Friendship Over The Summer
by ahbahh
Summary: GWHP-Noel!It's X'mas time at Hogwarts.Harry is forced by forced circumtances to not follow his usual holiday plan.Just a little hint,X'mas for Harry this yr is sweet & eventful, but also danderous!
1. The Weasleys' Family Meeting

Background: It's the 1st week of the summer holidays after Harry's  
5th year in Hogwarts. After all those happenings and Sirius's  
death, the Weasleys decided to send a Weasley representative to  
the Dursleys' to keep Harry company for the summer since  
Dumbledore thinks it not wise for Harry to go away from Privet  
Drive when the Dark Lord is active once more.  
  
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At the burrow's kitchen, the seven young Weasleys gathered around the dinning table waiting for Mrs Weasley to make an announcement. Mrs Weasley counted number of red heads mentally, cleared her throat and announced,  
  
"Boys and girl, your father and I have reached a decision about Harry this summer." All the young Weasleys were now silent, their eyes following Mrs Weasley very closely as she paced around the kitchen.  
  
"As you all knew, Dumbledore refused to let us have Harry over the summer and we can't just let that poor boy suffer alone with agony and misery with the muggles day in day out so we have agreed that we sent one of you over to the muggles to keep Harry company." Ron was now looking very relived and Mrs Weasley continued,  
  
"Since Bill and Charlie have to help out at the order, they will not be able to go. Fred and George have to help out at the order and tend their shop at the same time, thus they can't go either. Percy, who had just came back to our side will be most busy helping the new minister getting people to our side to make up for his mistake last year, he can't go too, and that leaves Ron and Ginny." Percy blushed at the mention of him, he was still very embarrassed about the way he treated his family the year before. Ron held his breathe as Mrs Weasley stole a look at him and continued,  
  
"Ginny shall represent us and go over to Harry's place." Ginny looked shocked and Ron looked livid.  
  
"But mum, why can't I go? I'm Harry's best friend and everything." Ron shouted at Mrs Weasley who was trying not to look at Ron.  
  
"I WOULD NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT, RONALD WEASLEY!!", Mrs Weasley bellowed and advanced towards Ron like a bull charging at a red flag. Ron knew at once that he had touched a nerve for he quickly cowered into a corner. The rest of the Weasleys were shaking their heads at Ron, and he did not need to see their faces to know that he was in trouble.  
  
"I'm. I'm sorry mum, I don't mean to shout at you. It's only that I'm worried about Harry and I really wish to be at Harry's side at this time." Ron whispered in the corner of the kitchen. At this, Mrs Weasley's anger seemed to appease immediately, and there were tears in her eyes.  
  
"Oh! Ron I'm so sorry to start at you. I knew you were worried about Harry dear, and I really wished to send you there but you have not totally recovered from the internal injuries you suffered from those sick brains and you need to be around me so that I could take care of you," Mrs Weasley said.  
  
" The only suitable person left is Ginny and I'm sure she wouldn't mind a bit to keep Harry company this summer, would you dear?" Mrs Weasley and the rest of the Weasleys all had their eyes at Ginny. She wanted to object but upon seeing their pleading looks and the thought on how lonely Harry would be if she was not to be there for him, she swallowed all the doubts in her and nodded. All the young Weasleys cheered and slapped her back, after they were done with her, Mrs Weasley turned to her and said, "I'm so proud of you!"  
  
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There will be more coming up!! Great fun and adventure!! Review and tell me what you think!! I'm waiting, cheerio ciao!! 


	2. Harry's Secret Pain

Special thanks to: Henrietta On thaEdge487 Turtle DarkJadedEyes ~for reviewing.  
  
Scene: At Harry's bedroom  
  
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'Hi Harry, hope that you are fine. I've got a good and a bad news to tell you. Which do you want to hear first? It's not your choice anyway, just don't flip when you hear it, and control yourself. There I go, 3. 2. 1. The good news is. you don't have to spend your summer alone (not that I think those muggles are not human, only that they don't mean much to you to be considered of any company). Mum and dad had decided to send one of us over to the muggles' and keep you company for the rest of the holiday. (Don't be too pleased yet, I've not told you the bad news) The bad news is. I'm not the one going, Gin is. (I've told you to get a grip, see, now you flipped) Mum says that she want to keep me beside her because she can't bear to part with me, her ickle ronnikin. (Hey, can't you see that I'm joking, why the face?) Mum said that I still need to recuperate at home and George, Fred, Bill, Charlie and Percy (I don't think you would be pleased if he is going) can't go over because they have important things to attend regarding you-know- what. So, Gin's the only candidate left, hope you don't mind! If you are displeased with the arrangement, just send Pig with your reply! If not, she will reach your place on the 31st, see you at school!  
  
PS* I did ask Hermione whether she could go over to your place in Ginny's place (without my mum's consent, of course) but her parents had heard something about you-know-who's back, thus they refused to let her go anywhere near us. Anyway, she needs to rest, she have not fully recovered from the side effects of that hex. But she said that she would go back to school in time no matter what. Don't worry about her.  
  
Cheers, Ron'  
  
Harry read the letter and sighed, he just couldn't believe that he had to endure the Dusleys for the rest of the summer and now that Ginny was coming. It's not that Harry dislike Ginny, it's only that they hardly knew each other. Harry knew that she is Ginny and everything, but he have not spoken more than 50 words with her throughout the whole 5 years and now he have to spend 2 months with only her presence. Harry could not bear to think about it anymore, he seized Pig, who was now poking the sleeping Hegwig, walked over to his desk and scribbled onto the empty space behind the parchment Ron sent.  
  
'Dear ickle Ronnikin,  
I'm fine don't worry. The Dursleys were almost okay nowadays, they never force me to do things for them anymore (I think they have not got over Moody's warnings). As for Ginny, I'm most happy to have her here for the summer but I'm not too sure about the Dursleys (they always say that I'm expensive to keep and now there is one more person to keep, I think they will kill me but don't worry, maybe I'll tell them Gin is Moody's daughter so that they wouldn't do anything rush).  
Take good care of yourself and see you in school (no, I'm not blaming myself for your injuries, so don't write back and repeat yourself about how it's your fault and not mine) I'm looking forward to the 31st, at least there is someone friendly under the roof other then Hegwig (she had been hardly awake since we came back, so she is no great company).  
  
Cheers, Harry'  
  
After finishing writing the letter, Harry rolled up the parchment, tied it onto Pig's leg and released her. He flew around Harry's room several times, knocked over the ink bottle and several other items, gave Hegwig a final poke at her side and flew out of Harry's window. Harry slumped down onto his bed, and watched the sunset from his window.  
  
"I really hope Ron or Hermione's coming instead. It's all my fault they have to spent the whole summer in house, if I have not wanted to play hero, they would not have been injuried and Sirius would not have.", Harry's thought trailed away. He could not bear to think of him, although they had told him umpteen times that it's not his fault, Harry could not find an excuse for himself to be not at fault.  
  
Nobody knew that he was suffering in silence, he felt that he was not fit to be living when so many people exchanged their lives for his safety. First it was his mother, she died to protect him, then it was Cedric, he was the most innocent party in the whole business, he was killed just because he was a spare, finally, Sirius, he died just because Harry tried to be hero.  
  
What Harry needed at this moment was a friend to care for him and great advice. He did not expect them from the Dursleys, maybe Ginny's coming was not a bad idea after all, and maybe she could change Harry's life.  
  
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Please review!! More reviews means faster updates!! I'm wicked yes I know but nothing is gonna make me change my mind except more reviews!! Cheerio ciao!! 


	3. Dudley's Girlfriend

Hehe. thanks for all those brilliant reviews!! I really love you people!! Dun mind if you could give me more reviews and suggestions!! There's the story for the day!!  
  
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Scene: On the 30th, in the Dursleys' living room  
  
Harry walked downstairs to the living room where the three Dursleys were watching the evening drama. They heard him coming but no one bothered to even turn their head, their eyes glued to the television screen. Harry stood at the entrance for about 15 minutes before he could muster his courage to walk into the living room. He took care to stand at a location where he would not be blocking Uncle Vernon's view to the television, took a deep breathe and cleared his throat.  
  
"Erm. erm." (No response)  
  
"Erm. Uncle Vernon?" (A slight nodding of the head to indicate he is listening)  
  
"My friend's sister want to stay over here for the summer, I need your consent whether she could come," Harry stuttered.  
  
"WHAT? HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK OF BRINGING A FRIEND OVER!!", Uncle Vernon shouted at Harry who was now wincing at Uncle Vernon's every word. Uncle Vernon shouted for 10 minutes about how expensive it was to keep Harry and now, he was going to bring over one more person to live on them (Harry expected all that and it did not surprise him at all) before he stopped all of a sudden, and was silent as if thinking through something. Harry looked at him in surprise until Uncle Vernon suddenly spoke up,  
  
"How old is she? Is she pretty? Is she normal? When is she coming?", but it was not the kind of reaction Harry expected. (He had always imagined Uncle Vernon shouting himself hoarse at Harry for daring to suggest bringing a friend over, threatened to beat him into a pulp and lock him up in his room, that's why he dragged till today to ask him)  
  
"She is fifteen, looks okay, is perfectly normal if that's what you are asking and will be reaching tomorrow", Harry lied. He knew if he was to admit Ginny was a witch, Uncle Vernon would most certainly make she was nowhere near them. Since students of Hogwarts were not allowed to use magic outside school, Uncle Vernon would not get to know about it.  
  
"There's no harm lying to them, they would never have the brains to find out anyway", Harry thought to himself.  
  
"As long as Ginny was allowed to come, anything else doesn't matter."  
  
"Okay then, she could come", Uncle Vernon replied turning his eyes back to the screen but Harry could see his lips curling. Harry could not understand the sudden change in Uncle Vernon and asked,  
  
"Why are you so happy that she is coming? I thought you hated my friends?"  
  
"I'm the bread winner of the family, and I do whatever I pleased. It has got nothing to do with you and long as I'm happy", Uncle Vernon snapped at Harry but he was not so easily fooled, something was really fishy about the way Uncle Vernon behaved.  
  
Harry was not so easily put off, he continued to pester Uncle Vernon for an answer until he could not bear it,  
  
"I was thinking it's time for my Dudley boy to get himself a girlfriend, and that friend's sister of yours is coming at the right time." At this Dudley looked back smiling, showing Harry his piggy little smile. (Harry was sure Dudley was having dirty thoughts at that moment and it disgusted Harry)  
  
"Now, up you go to your filthy little room and no more questions or I'll change my mind", Uncle Vernon roared at Harry and gave him a don't-you dare- ask-anymore-question look. Harry wanted very much to punch Dudley's face, how dare he have ideas on Ginny!  
  
" I'll kill him before he could touch Ginny", Harry thought angrily and he made a mental note to not let Ginny leave his side for even a minute. Heaven knows what Dudley would do to her if she was left alone! Harry shuddered at the thought but didn't want to confront them now for they could turn very nasty if they wanted to.  
  
"They only have to give the consent, I'll do the rest to protect Ginny even if it costs my life", Harry thought.  
  
"She is not going to get bullied because of me. For once, I'm going to protect and that person is Ginny Weasley."  
  
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So how's the story? Is it okay? Review!! If it's really that bad, maybe I'll change the plot a little!! I'm kinda not too confident about this chapter but I swear to you the rest would be better. Actually I thought of having Uncle Vernon making a big scene about it and in the end when Harry lied that Ginny's Moody's daughter, staying to ensure that Harry's doing fine. But I think this plot is more exciting and funny, so there's the chapter, hope you'll love it!! Any suggestions? Review to me!! Thanks cheerio, ciao!! 


	4. Ginny's Arrival

Specials thanks to the following lovely people:  
  
Crazy-manga-girl Echo256 Irishdancer61790 Brooke Lake Obsessed87 Darcy Hooty Miss Piggy ~your reviews make me feel great, now I knew I've got fans. Yeah!! You people are just lovely, you make my day and make me wanna write more just for you!!  
  
PS*Brooke Lake, I dun really understand what you said about Harry and Hermione, care to explain more? I wanna know where exactly I went wrong so that I can improve.  
  
Anyway, here's the story of the day!! Enjoy and dun forget to review!!  
  
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Scene: On the 31st evening  
  
Harry had been expecting Ginny's arrival today but its already 11.30 pm. He had been sitting around in the living room the whole day (it's very unusual of Harry to be sticking around downstairs for he usually locked himself in his room drowning in his own despair).  
  
"She should have arrived but maybe she changed her mind at the last minute," Harry thought grimly. Although Ginny's coming was not much of a comfort to Harry, he had been looking forward to her arrival. Harry felt that that must be the case and he decided not to wait for her any longer, for the higher the hope the greater disappointment you would get, so he decided to go to bed instead of hanging around waiting.  
  
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It's around 1.00am in the morning. The whole of Privet Drive was very peaceful, all the houses had their lights off. The night was silent, stray cats could be seen roaming around the neighborhood scrapping food from uncover rubbish bins. Suddenly, two people appeared from around the street each carrying a broomstick. Nobody in their right state of mind would be loitering around in the middle of the dead night carrying brooms but they were most certainly in their right mind. They were a man in his mid-forties and a very pretty young girl no more than fifteen years of age.  
  
The cats scattered as they walked along the street, they walked until they reached the gate with a plate saying 'No.4 Privet Drive'.  
  
"This must be the place, Gin", the man spoke.  
  
"I think we should knock on the door, daddy", a sweet girl's voice replied. They knocked on the door but there was no sign of movement from inside the house.  
  
"I think they couldn't hear it. But. wait!! Isn't this a doorbell? I've seen them in Hermione's Muggles Studies textbook." The girl squeaked excitedly pointing at a button on the wall at the right hand side of the door.  
  
"Doorbell? I've heard of them, I think we'll have to press it if I've remembered correctly," the man said and he was now examining the doorbell.  
  
"Erm. daddy, I think we better press it and try to get the muggles' attention. I'm freezing."  
  
"Oh. Oh sure love, can I have the honor of pressing it or do you want to try it too?"  
  
"Sure, you can have the honor of pressing it", the girl rowed her eyes after her father.  
  
The man pressed the button not expecting it to make such a din, both of them almost jumped out of their skins when the bell sounded like a banshee.  
  
Above them, a thud could be heard, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pertunia had fell from their bed.  
  
"WHO THE DEVIL IS IT?", Uncle Vernon shouted as he stormed down the stairs with Aunt Pertunia following closely behind. His thunderous voice would have shaken the whole house but both Harry and Dudley was still asleep. Harry was having a nightmare, as usual, and was completely oblivious to the commotion downstairs, Dudley was soundly asleep, and nothing could wake him, not even a cannon.  
  
Uncle Vernon wrenched the door open and at the doorsteps stood Mr Weasley and Ginny. Uncle Vernon observed them carefully from head to toe before he realized that the man was the same as the one who blasted his living room a few years ago. Uncle Vernon did not know how to react and there was a very pregnant pause between them until Mr Weasley spoke extending his hand to Uncle Vernon,  
  
"Hi, I'm Arthur Weasley and this is my daughter, Ginny. I think Harry had told you about her coming to spend the summer with your family. We flew here and just reached, I'm so sorry to impose your family at such an late hour but we could only start flying after dark in case the muggles noticed." Uncle Vernon did not take the hand in front of him, instead retreated a few steps backwards.  
  
Uncle Vernon wanted very much to shout at the visitors for disturbing them at such late hour but upon seeing the wand sticking out from Mr Weasley's pocket, decide against the idea. Sensing the tension between them, Mr Weasley took back his arm and said to Ginny,  
  
"So Gin, I'll leave you here. Enjoy the summer, remember to write to us if there is any problem and be good." Mr Weasley took a miniature trunk from his back pocket, took out his wand (the Dursleys ran into the house at this) and transfigured it back to its original size. He gave his daughter a peck at the cheek, stuck his head into the house at the door and shouted to the Dursleys,  
  
"Sorry to bother you, I need to go back now. Feel free to owl me if Ginny misbehaves, Harry would know the way to contact us. Bye!" and he disappeared in a wink into the darkness. Ginny waved to his father as he disapparated, took her trunk and broomstick, and walked into the house closing the door behind her. The two Dursleys were nowhere to be seen, Ginny looked around the house for the sign of them and spotted two pairs of eyes at the top of the stairs. A rough voice was heard saying,  
  
"He's at the second bedroom on the left" and the eyes vanished followed by the slam of the door.  
  
"Weirdo", Ginny thought to herself and walked up the stairs to Harry's room. She stood outside his room and knocked on his door. Inside the room, Harry was jerked out of his sleep by the urgent knock on his room door, he wondered who it was and walked across his room to open the door, at his doorsteps stood Ginny. 


	5. Typical Boys

I'll like to acknowledge my lovely reviewers:  
  
DarkJadedEyes, Echo256, The Backliner, Lourdes, MissPsycho, Lord Sauron, Dancy, CaSSioPeia12, SicDreamsInc, GinnyPotter4, NiCz2392, obsessed87, shdurrani, amelle, hermionegreen, The Vampire Story Hunter, Noelle c., Arlene, Padfoot4lfe, arrow-card, kimmerz, hp fanatic  
  
I love to acknowledge my reviewers in my every chapter because I love to be acknowledged when I review.  
  
Clarifications: Some of you mentioned about Cho, Hermione and their relationship with Harry. But I thought Harry's no longer into Cho cos she's a sick tap (sorry to Cho lover but she really is a tap flowing freely, Oops!!), they dun need to break up cos they were never together, just a kiss under a mistletoe nothing more than that. As for Hermione, Harry never says he likes her, she is jus a good friend of Harry's. Some mentioned something like Mr Weasley letting his precious daughter live with a guy. But I think Mr Weasley trust Harry enough to entrust his daughter to him. As for him leaving Ginny at the doorsteps jus like that without seeing Harry, if I were Mr Weasley, jus from looking at Uncle Vernon's face, I'll be running in the opposite direction. God knows what Uncle Vernon will do to Mr Weasley if he walks into the house to see Harry. I knew perfectly well Uncle Vernon hates Harry's friend but if there is a girl coming for Dudley to take advantage of, do you think Uncle Vernon will mind. Aunt Pertunia's sister is a witch but she is normal so Uncle Vernon might think there might be a chance between Dudley and Ginny (judging on Dudley's massive size, he may have difficulty getting girls). And I thought I mentioned that Uncle Vernon asked whether Ginny is normal before allowing her to visit.  
  
Anyway, there's the story of the day.  
  
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Scene: In Harry's bedroom  
  
Harry was so surprised to see Ginny especially when he thought that she was not coming.  
  
"I thought you are not coming so I went to bed early, so sorry about it. But how did you managed to come in? You didn't climb from the windows, did you?" Harry asked.  
  
"Nah, the muggles opened the door for me after dad made a great din with the doorbell", Ginny replied and upon seeing Harry's puzzled face, relived the commotion that happened earlier.  
  
"Wow, you really sleep like a dead log. That doorbell of yours sounded exactly like a banshee magnified a hundred times and you still managed to sleep on", Ginny teased.  
  
"Well, I'm. erm." (Harry did not want to tell Ginny that he had a nightmare)  
  
"You had a nightmare, is it? It must have been a bad one. I remembered there was once when Ron screamed in his dream, he never told us what he dreamed about no matter how Fred and George forced him to. But they didn't let him getaway with it just like that, they took a doll of mine and did something to it so that it screamed like some manic whenever Ron's around. Ron was so embarrassed that he didn't come out of his room for a week", Ginny sniggered and Harry smiled feebly back.  
  
Harry was always afraid to let others know he had nightmares very often, he hated to have people fussing over him telling him that he's been through a lot. He did not want pity but Ginny did not show any sign of pity in her eyes.  
  
"Erm. Can I come in now? It's freezing." Harry stood aside allowing Ginny to walk through and closed the door behind. Ginny looked around Harry's room, books were stacked in a corner haphazardly, his school stuffs were thrown all over the place, dirty clothes were piling as high as a small mountain in a corner.  
  
"Typical boys", Ginny thought and rolled her eyes. Harry noticed what Ginny was looking at, he quickly picked up his stuffs and stuffed them into the cupboard.  
  
He turned to look at Ginny blushing, only to see that she was smiling. There was an awkward silence between them, and Harry spoke,  
  
"Ginny, there is only four rooms in this house so, I'm afraid you have to stay in my room. But don't worry, you can have the bed and I'll settle on the floor, alright?" Ginny looked at the floor, there was hardly any space left due to the mess but she knew that arguing would only upset him so she kept quiet about the arrangement.  
  
"I'm okay if you are okay", she replied and Harry gave her a big smile to reassure her.  
  
"You can put your stuffs in my cupboard", Harry informed Ginny cheerfully and walked over to the cupboard to show her where to store her belongings. When he opened it, a great pile of unfolded clothes fell out almost burying him in it. He stood in the pile with his head sticking out at the top and smiled feebly back at Ginny who was sitting on the bed, suppressing her laughter.  
  
"Erm. I've got too many stuffs in my cupboard", Harry felt like digging a hole and jump right in, it was downright embarrassing. Ginny took pity in Harry and went over to help him stuff his clothes back. After a long struggle, Harry managed to pile his clothes in one corner of the cupboard leaving the other corner free for Ginny's use.  
  
Ginny had known Harry for almost 5 years but she never knew that he was that untidy. She thought Ron was untidiest person alive but now it all proved that she was wrong, all boys are dreadfully untidy.  
  
After finished packing away her belongings, Ginny went to the washroom to change into pajamas. She thought that she could find her way there on her own and so she did not ask Harry to guide her but she was wrong, all the doors looked alike. After getting out of Harry's room, she could not find her way to the washroom but neither could she find her way back. She walked around trying to retrace her footstep and finally walked to a door that looked like it belongs to a washroom.  
  
She opened the door and it showed a dark room. She went in feeling her way around hoping that the candles would flicker on (the washroom at her house would light up with candles on its own whenever someone goes in) but nothing happened, the room remained dark. Hardly able to watch her way, Ginny walked farther and farther into the room until she hit something hard at knee height and fell face first onto something. She struggled to stand up again but that thing which she fell onto was holding her down. She was so scared and shocked that she forgot to scream for help but continued struggling to break free from the force holding her.  
  
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Haha, cliffhanger!! Anyone wanna guess what is the thing Ginny fell on? The person who guesses correctly would be given a chocolate cookie!! I'll update only if someone got it correct, haha!! I'm evil I knew it perfectly well, but I trust that you people are clever!! I believe the riddle would be solved in no time!! Have fun guessing and dun forget to review!! Again, if you find the plot for this chapter sucks, review to me and maybe I'll change it a bit!! Cheerio ciao!! 


	6. A Mad Harry

Wow you guys are brilliant!! A chocolate cookie each to: ~Miss-lily-evan (2 cookies for her cos I forgot to mention her in my list of lovely reviewers!!) ~GrednForge ~Emily ~Moon girl ~Prongs ~Lord Sauron ~Midnight Fenix ~The Backliner (No, I'm not very bothered by wat Borg says, 2 cookies for you cos Borg upsets you!!) ~kberg1989 ~THE PHCITZO CHICKENS HAVE ESCAPED!!! ~DarkJadedEyes ~SicDreamsInc ~arrow-card ~Ira (Dun forget the cookie u promised me if I make the chapter longer!!) ~Obsessed87 ~Dancy (2 cookies for you for I reckon the chanting makes you hungry, lol!!) ~Froggy1 (I agree with u, Harry and Ginny are destinated an item, I love history to repeat itself about the dark-haired man and the red-haired woman!!) ~CaSSioPeia12 ~Lourdes ~cheesepuff99 (saves the world before bedtime ~powerpuff girls, jus joking!!) ~hermionegreen  
  
As for Borg, I dun think I'm too bothered by wat he said for I've got too many fantastic reviewers to love than to be bothered about him. (Tell u a little secret, I'm gonna delete his review, haha!!)  
  
Here's the story of the day!!  
  
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Scene: In Dudley's bedroom  
  
Dudley was sleeping and he had a dream. He dreamed that he was eating ice- cream and watching television when the doorbell rang (here's where Mr Weasley pressed the doorbell downstairs). He did not bother to answer the door thinking that his mum would answer it but no one did. Thinking that maybe it was a salesman, he did not bother to find out who it was at the door and whoever was at the door did not ring the bell again.  
  
He continued eating until he had finished the whole tub of ice-cream and went to the kitchen to get himself some chips. When he was on the way going back to the living room from the kitchen, he spotted a pretty girl peeping through the window beside the front door, into the house.  
  
"Wow, a girl!!", he thought smiling to himself. He quickly straightened his shirt, tucked it into his pants, checked his appearance in the reflection of the window and opened the door.  
  
At the doorsteps stood a young girl with long hair, and she was smiling sweetly at him. He returned her a wide million-dollar smile, which made his eyes looked like just two slits (the fats on his face were all squeezed up to his eyes). The girl looked into his eyes affectionately, and suddenly threw herself into his arms. (here's where Ginny fell, she had went into Dudley's room by mistake. In the dark, she had walked right towards Dudley's bed and fell onto him)  
  
The dream was so real, the impact of the embrace, the warmth of her body against his and the lavender smell coming from her.  
  
"Wow, I'm in luck," he told himself thickly. As if afraid that the sweet dream might not last, he tightened his embrace enjoying the warmth of the small body on his massive chest and the fragrance coming from her.  
  
Dudley tossed in his dream and Ginny was dragged onto his bed. Ginny kicked and struggled but it was of no use against Dudley. Ginny had no idea what was pulling her down. She felt very scared and frantic, she wanted to scream but her voice seemed to have caught in her throat. She felt very helpless and prayed that someone would come and help her.  
  
In the room beside, Harry felt that something was amiss. The washroom was just two doors away but Ginny had gone for fifteen minutes, she should have returned by now. The more Harry thought the more frantic he was, finally he decided to look for her. Harry stepped out of his room and was about to turn to the left where the washroom was located when he heard a muffled sound coming from Dudley's room on his right.  
  
"Maybe that git was having a nightmare", Harry thought to himself but curiosity got the better of him when he noticed that Dudley's room door was ajar. It was very odd of Dudley to leave his door opened at night and thus Harry decided to take a look.  
  
Harry took care to tiptoe to Dudley's room for he did not want to be accused of trying to attack Dudley in his sleep. The nearer he was to the room the louder the muffled sounds, Harry stuck his head into the room and from the shadow casted by the street lamps outside, Harry saw an extra lump in Dudley's bed. Harry squinted his eyes to have a clearer view in the dark, the lump seemed to be moving.  
  
The first thing that came across Harry's mind was that the deatheaters had found their way here. They were in Dudley's room thinking that it was Harry's room, and judging from the vigorous movement, they must had performed the Crucio Curse on Dudley and the Silence Charm to prevent him from screaming.  
  
Harry drew close quietly, took his wand out from the waistband of his pajamas (he always had his wand on him in case of any sudden attack like the dementor attack last year) and posed to a ready position to attack. He was about to jump onto whoever was there on the bed when he saw that it was a small figure and it was struggling. He bent over to have a closer look and to his surprise, it was Ginny and Dudley was hugging her to himself.  
  
The anger in Harry rose to its maximum in a few seconds, how dare Dudley touch Ginny! Harry knew very well that Dudley had ideas on Ginny even before she came but never did he expect Dudley to lay his hands on her that fast, she only reached a few hours ago!  
  
At that moment, Harry did not bother to use magic at all, Harry threw away his wand, jumped onto Dudley's bed and threw a bare fist aimed well at Dudley's face and a crack was heard. Dudley shouted in pain and loosened his grip on Ginny. Ginny took the chance to escape him Dudley's clutches while Harry continued throwing fists at Dudley. Dudley yelped at the pain and tried to fight back, but the young boxer champion's strength was of no use against a furious Harry Potter. Harry received a few punches in return and blood appeared from the corner of his mouth, but he took no notice of them.  
  
The noise caught the attention of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pertunia who rushed out of their room into Dudley's. Uncle Vernon turned on the lights to show a mad looking Harry on top of a bloody Dudley (judging from the amount of blood, Dudley had a broken nose) and a dazed looking Ginny crouching in a corner next to a closet. The lights blinded both Harry and Dudley for a moment and they stopped whatever they are doing.  
  
Aunt Pertunia screamed in alarm to see her son covered in blood, she ran over to Dudley's side, pulled Harry away from him and hugged him sobbing hysterically. Uncle Vernon looked at Harry lividly, walked unsteadily over to him and pulled him up by the neck of his pajamas, his fist held close to Harry's face. Uncle Vernon looked ready to beat Harry into a pulp but his look was nothing compared to Harry's. Harry felt as if all the anger he had bottled up in all these years ready to explode and he returned him a dangerously mad look.  
  
"Let me go!" Harry said in a calm but dangerous voice. Uncle Vernon was taken aback by the icy tone of Harry's but he stood his ground stubbornly. Suddenly, the door slammed closed on its own, the lights in the room flickered and Harry's wand flew into his outstretched arm. Whenever something strange happened on it own, it indicates that Harry's temper was stretched to its maximum. Uncle Vernon was petrified at the sight of the wand in Harry's arm and he released him.  
  
No one in the room moved, Aunt Pertunia and Dudley were hugging each other with a terrified look in their face and Uncle Vernon looked as if being petrified. Harry walked serenely across the room over to Ginny and helped her up. She got up to her feet gingerly and was lead back to Harry's room leaving behind the Dursleys.  
  
Harry reappeared in Dudley's room a few minutes later. Uncle Vernon saw that the wand was no longer in Harry's possession, feeling braver he stood in front of Harry, his eyes shining accusingly,  
  
"I had enough of your nonsense, boy! I'll tolerate your abnormally under my roof no longer and you can get out of here this moment and don't ever return!"  
  
Instead of looking worried or scared, Harry's face broke into a wicked grin,  
  
"You can try throwing me out but I can't guarantee what the order will do to you. Surely you still remember that gentleman who talked to you at the station? He is the an important member of the order and an Auror, if you have no idea what is an Auror, it is something like a muggle FBI but the difference is that he attacks first before asking questions. Unfortunately, he is in charge of my safety and well-being, and if you dare lay a finger on us, he'll have the order will bursting into Privet Drive."  
  
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Pertunia and Dudley 's face were drained of colour. The order sounded like some muggle gang triad, the thought of them marching into the house was too much and that man with the mad looking eye, seemed capable of committing murder. Aunt Pertunia looked as if going to faint any moment, Dudley's fat face was greenish white in color and Uncle Vernon was clenching his heart as if it was going to fail him. Harry looked at them, gave a hollow laugh that highly resembled Voldermort's and strolled out of the room.  
  
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So how was it? I had a writer's block for a day and after much struggle came up with this. Hope that it was up to ur expectation although Harry seemed to be too wicked and a bit out of his mind. Surely his bitter experiences and his possession by Voldermort had left him unable to control himself at times. Treat it as he was letting off the anger he accumulated over the years in a shot, and dun worry he is still the good old Harry!! I knew you guy would have something to say about it, dun worry as I've said a million time, any displeasure with the plot I'll change it if possible!! Jus give me a word!! Cheerio ciao!! 


	7. Happy Times

I wanna thank you all for giving me so much support!! I can't acknowledge all u faithful reviwers cos there are so many of you!! The only way to express my thanks is to give you ur fan fic for the day!!  
  
Anyway, here's another chapter!!  
  
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Scene: In Harry's room  
  
Harry walked into his room, quickly closed the door behind him and heaved a sigh of relief. He was breathing heavily as if he just had a run, he leaned against the wall and tried to catch his breath back. He could hardly believe what he had done earlier, he had punched Dudley and threatened Uncle Vernon.  
  
At first, Harry thought that it's the end, he was bound to be chunked out into the street but now, at the look of it, he was going to get away with it. He could hardly believe his luck, he was simply weaving stories but Uncle Vernon was thick enough to believe it. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Pertunia seemed pretty convinced by the story, if any luck, they would not dare to be nasty to him anymore. Just as he was about to congratulate himself for his intelligence, he suddenly remembered Ginny.  
  
Ginny was sitting on Harry's bed, clenching her chest. She did not seemed to have noticed Harry's presence but simply stared into space. Harry noted the abnormal behavior about Ginny and went to sit beside her. The extra weight on the bed gave her a jump and she turned to see who it was. Harry could see that she was still in shock, her face was of a palely white. Harry felt very bad for the nasty shock she had received just now but he did not know what to do to make her feel better, thus he patted her head absent-mindedly.  
  
After a few minutes, Ginny managed to recover herself, she turned to face Harry and gave him a cheerful reassuring smile,  
  
"Wow, that's close. I thought what dangerous muggle artifacts have I caught myself into, and it gave me the shock of my life. Never did I know that I've walked right into that great prune's room, if not for the fact that I'm caught unaware, I would have shown him what it means to touch the Weasley Cannon", she joked. Harry was relieved, Ginny had recovered to her usual cheerful self,  
  
"Stay close to me whenever you are in this house. You'll never know what that lecher Dudley would be up to. With me around, he can never touch you" Harry said with dignity. Ginny looked at him as if he had got an extra head, Harry was shocked at what he had said and blushed to a crimson shade. Ginny could tell that he was embarrassed and changed the topic of conversation,  
  
"I've overhead the conversation you had with your uncle. Will you get into trouble, he seemed dead angry at us.", Ginny sounded worried.  
  
"Don't worry about him, I've settled it. He wouldn't give us trouble, I think the warnings Moody gave him was still deep in his memory. He knew better than to be funny with the order, that git", Harry reassured Ginny.  
  
Ginny was relieved that Harry was not in any trouble with the muggles. She was still shocked by Harry's reaction just now, he had actually hit the fat muggle. Ginny had never seen Harry hit anyone and this was the first time she saw Harry flare up and hit someone. She kept looking at Harry in amazement until Harry felt uncomfortable with her staring.  
  
"By the way, you mentioned something about the Weasley Cannon just now, what exactly was that? Another new product of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, is it?" Harry asked trying to turn Ginny's attention away from himself. To his surprise, Ginny was giggling,  
  
"It was the nickname Fred and George had for me. It was got something to do with my temper, according to them. They said that I'm like a cannon that would explode if trifled with," she explained.  
  
Harry laughed at the idea of Ginny being as fearsome as a cannon and could not stop laughing. Harry had never seen Ginny talking louder than himself let alone throw temper. Ginny was the type of girl who only speaks if necessary, she never spoke out of turn and never did she ever talk more than ten words in front of him. Harry choked and coughed but still could not stop laughing his head off. Ginny laughed at Harry whose face that was now red resembling a tomato, due to insufficient oxygen. They spent almost fifteen minutes laughing at each other and had a tough time trying to breathe properly.  
  
Feeling very relaxed with each other after the good laugh, they began chatting with each other. Their topic of conversation varied from Quidditch to hobbies, from favorite food to their most embarrassing moment in life. They chatted about almost everything and discovered that they had a lot of interests in common. They laughed at each other's joke and joked about each other.  
  
It was almost dawn before they felt tired from all the talking and went to bed. Harry found a place on the floor unoccupied by his school stuff, curled up and went to sleep. Ginny slept on Harry's bed as agreed upon earlier feeling very blissful. Although Harry was not very comfortable in the floor, he felt very contented and managed to sleep through without even a toss. Maybe the summer was not that bad after all!!  
  
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Hehe, task completed!! This chapter may be a bit short but I jus can't fit in anymore stuff. I dun wanna write and fill up the space for the sake of filling spaces. I like my fanfic to have content but not unnecessary details. 


	8. Summer

Hello guys and girls!! Thanks for ur nice reviews!! I have an announcement to make, from today onwards, I wouldn't be updating almost everyday!! My school is starting tomorrow and judging from the amount of work I would have, I wouldn't be updating regularly!! I hope in this period of time, you ppl wouldn't forget me, the best way is to add me in ur fave author section, hehe!! I'll try to update at least once a week in the beginning but expect longer period between updates!!  
  
Ok, guys, here's another chap but I am feeling less n less confident!! The only way to boast my confidence in to bombard me with reviews!! Thanks, * sob sob * (bow to the audiences)  
  
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Scene: In the next morning, in Harry's bedroom  
  
As both Harry and Ginny turned in very late the night before, they woke up very late the next day. It was almost 11am before Ginny stirred, she opened her eyes slowly as the sun was shining onto her and was shocked for a moment when she saw that she was not in her own room. She panicked for a moment before noticing Harry on the floor, she then remembered that she was now staying with Harry.  
  
Harry was sleeping in an eagle-spread position and he did not seemed too comfortable. Ginny felt very bad for Harry, she had deprived Harry of his bed and cupboard. Ginny sat on the bed looking at the sleeping Harry absent- mindedly before her mind was cleared and she became fully awake.  
  
Ginny took care to make no noise as she tiptoed to the cupboard to get her clothes, opened the door slowly and carefully so that it did not creak and wake Harry. On the way to the washroom, Ginny was very jumpy, looking out for signs of movement along the corridor and ready to sprint to the washroom if there was any. She gave a huge sigh in relief after she finally managed to get to the washroom without any commotion.  
  
After finishing using the washroom (she took ages in the toilet musing herself with the water heater, she had seen them in Hermione's Muggle Studies textbook), she tiptoed back to Harry's room only to find that he was sitting up on the floor where he had slept on, staring onto space. Clearly, Harry was not fully awake yet. Ginny closed the door behind her and Harry was jerked out of his wondering thoughts.  
  
"Good Morning!" Harry greeted Ginny in a cracked voice.  
  
"Morning, Harry!" Ginny replied cheerfully in a tone like the morning sun, so refreshing.  
  
"Why don't you sleep on? I can wake you up later if you want, you can have the bed, I have enough of sleep" Ginny continued, eyeing at Harry's puffy eyes.  
  
"I had enough of sleep, don't worry about me" Harry tried to talk and yawn at the same time. Looking at Ginny's attire, which consisted of a muggle T- shirt and faded jeans, Harry frowned. Noticing that Harry was frowning, Ginny blushed,  
  
"Is the attire inappropriate? But I only have this kind of muggle clothes, I thought you people wear T-shirts and jeans?" Ginny added in timid voice.  
  
"Did you bring dresses with you?" Harry asked.  
  
"D. dress?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah, D.R.E.S.S dress" Harry teased.  
  
"I've got dresses for Hogmeade visits, all right"  
  
"Ok then, change into them. I have asked Mrs Weasley to help me change some galleons into muggle money, so I'll bring you to the café around the corner for brunch. It's a pity not to be dressed in summer clothes when it's summer" Harry said heartily and gave Ginny a mischievous wink.  
  
"May I add that Aunt Pertunia never provide anything decent for breakfast." Harry added. Ginny had never seen Harry that cheerful, she had came to Privet Drive thinking that she would be facing a grumpy Harry throughout the summer and her job was to make him happy. When she was wondering if Harry was trying to hide his feelings as he always does, he interrupted her thoughts,  
  
"You can change in the room while I go wash up but remember to lock the room. Do not open the door unless if you hear my voice" he added and turned to go out of the room.  
  
After he went, Ginny talked to herself aloud,  
  
"He's acting pretty weird" and a knock could be heard on the door. Ginny tensed up and relaxed when she heard the all-familiar voice,  
  
"Open up Weasley Cannon or I'll burst right through". Ginny opened the door and Harry came in smiling,  
  
"I've forgot to take my clothes but luckily I did or I'll never know that the Weasley Cannon is cracking up, talking to herself". Harry had to duck as a pillow was thrown aimed at him and disappeared behind the door.  
  
Ginny crackled as she changed into a blood red dress that stopped at her knees (she was a reserved girl, she never wear anything shorter than her knees). Ginny loved this dress, her mum always told her she looked gorgeous in it.  
  
Ginny sat on the bed combing her long hair as Harry returned, she went to open the door when the password was given ("Weasley Cannon"). Harry returned wearing a pair of Bermudas, a summer shirt and smelling like guys, looking at Ginny in a satisfied way,  
  
"That's better, and that dress does suits you" Harry said in a brotherly fashion that reminded Ginny vividly of Bill and Charlie (Percy was too into himself to be bothered with Ginny, Fred, George and Ron were always bullying her, they were never what people called brothers).  
  
After trying to comb his hair, which was totally pointless, Harry led Ginny downstairs. When they walked pass the living room, they caught a glance of a massive Dudley with a plaster on his pig snout like nose watching television, feeding on ice cream. Aunt Pertunia was nowhere to be seen, most likely at the fence peeping into the house next door, Harry thought.  
  
Harry led Ginny to the streets laughing and talking loudly, and their loud noise attracted Aunt Pertunia's attention from the backyard, who popped her head out in time to see a dark-haired guy with a red-haired girl disappear around the corner.  
  
Aunt Pertunia felt very troubled after witnessing the scene, she went into the living room, sink herself into an armchair and memories started to surface. Twenty years ago, she had witnessed the same scene, the same summer and the same people, a dark-haired guy and a red-haired girl, Lily Evans and James Potter.  
  
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How was it? I feel that it's not too bad. Harry was not mad after all. He had changed a lot, very cheerful and full of youth but sadly, he had to face himself sooner or later. (That's a bit of hint of the next chapter). Pls give me more reviews, I'm losing confidence!! Anyway, I've discovered a GREAT fanfic and a GREAT writer!! The best fanfic I've ever read much better than mine, I admit!! "Ginny Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"~by "The Breeze", this writer has got very mature writing style, I simply love it. The story brings tears to my eyes!! Pls read it, a great story deserves attention!! 


	9. Weasley Cannon on the go

Hello friends, did you read that story I mentioned to u? Ginny Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by The Breeze, pls check it out cos its really great. Did I mention to u that I cried and laughed at the same time whenever I read the updates? Although the title doesn't sound that great but the story is jus so DAMN great!! Support great fan fic!!  
  
Ok, enough of free advertisement for 'The Breeze', here's the story of the day!!  
  
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Scene: In Harry's room  
  
'Dear dad, mum, Bill, Charlie (if you are there), Percy, Fred, George and of course, Ron,  
  
It's been over a week since I arrived here. Sorry for the delay in writing a letter to you all, Harry and I have been quite busy.  
  
The muggles have been treating us okay and are not giving us any trouble. (Don't worry mum, Harry and I can take care of ourselves, all right!)  
  
Harry had been in a quite good mood everyday and he hasn't been shouting his head off at things. (Ron, he is fine, really, trust me!) I think he has not been brooding over that matter, I reckon he didn't have the time anyway, for I'm already a nightmare to him, tricking him and stuff like that (I've lived up to your name, Fred and George!)  
  
We usually begin the day in the nearby café chatting over brunch (the muggle's cooking is really horrid, it's nothing like yours, mum) and sometimes, we'll drop by Mrs Figg's place to watch television, have a game of chess, exploding snap or Gobstones. (The television is fascinating, dad. You can see people moving in the box, you should see it but sometimes the girls in the box were in almost nothing, I thought you might be interested, Ron) Harry shows me around the neighbourhood and introduces muggle inventions to me, they are very interesting (I'll tell you more, don't worry dad!) We spend most of the time outdoors and out of the muggles' way; Harry reckons it's the best if we do so.  
  
I've learnt about this popular muggle sport called football recently. There are two teams with eleven people in each team trying to kick a ball into opposing teams' net (Hey, Bill and Charlie, it's quite exciting a game, but Quidditch is better, of course!). Sometimes, Harry got to play it too, but he is really bad at it, Quidditch agrees with him better and that's why he was seldom invited in a game unless the team didn't have enough people. There was once when Harry kicked the ball into his own goal, I laughed myself silly at him and he threatened to hex me if I don't stop laughing (I shouldn't have taught him the bat-bogey hex).  
  
I wanted to try football, but Harry simply refused to let me have a go at it saying that it's too violent a game for girls (Isn't Quidditch violent too? If not, it's ten times worst) Ron, could you tell that friend of yours to stop being a chauvinist? (Bet he learnt it from you, Percy, you great prat)  
  
I'm enjoying myself here so don't worry about me (Don't be jealous, Ron, u can have your friend back when the school reopens). It's late and Harry isn't back in the room yet (Yes, we are sharing a room, mum, but Harry sleeps in the floor and I'm on bed, so don't worry about us). I've got to go and look for him so I'll send you another letter soon!! Bye!!  
  
Love, Gin and Harry  
  
PS: Ron, pls send Hermione an owl to tell her that we are well and wish her a speedy recovery from me. You take care too.  
  
Ginny felt her conscious weighing on her mind; she had not been very truthful in the letter. There were a lot of things she conveniently chose to forget to mention, Harry was being weird today but she thought that he was probably just tired, so she did not mention his abnormal behaviour in the letter in case her family worried.  
  
Harry had been acting weird today; he hadn't been talking much since breakfast. He had been spending time sitting around the park in a daze. No matter how Ginny tried to engage him in a conversation, he would only give a one-word reply. Harry hardly touched his dinner, Ginny knew that his aunt's cooking was terrible but he should have been used to it by now. After dinner, Harry was nowhere to found and he had simply disappeared. Ginny had been looking for him at all the possible places, in Mrs. Figg's house, in the park, in the muggles' porch and throughout the whole house.  
  
An hour later, a dead beat Ginny returned to her room to see if Harry had been back, but there wasn't any sign of him in the house. Ginny had no idea where to look for him and decided to write a letter to her family while waiting for Harry to return. When Ginny finished writing the letter, Harry was not back yet, thus she decided to send the letter with Hedwig. (A/N: in case it's a bit confusing for you, the letter Ginny wrote is the one mentioned in the beginning)  
  
Hedwig was sleeping with her head under her wings, she had hardly been awake these days and it was hard to tell whether she was still alive or dead. Ginny walked towards her and she could see Hedwig's chest rising and falling slowly confirming that she was still alive after all. Ginny called out Hedwig's name softly and she opened one of her eyes feebly to see who was disturbing her of her sleep. After seeing that it was Ginny, she opened both of her eyes unwillingly, shifted about in the cage and looked at Ginny reproachfully.  
  
Ginny showed the rolled up parchment to her and she flew out of the cage. She perched on the top of the cage and held out her leg for Ginny to tie the letter onto it. Ginny stroked her and tied the letter onto her leg. She carried Hedwig to the window and released her. Hedwig plunged a foot down before stretching out her wings and flew up higher in the air. Ginny watched Hedwig disappear into the night while she stood by the open window, staring into the darkness. A while later, footsteps could be heard drawing near the bedroom door.  
  
"It must be Harry", Ginny thought and turned her head to face a sullen faced Harry. He did not show any signs of acknowledgement in his face and walked across the room to his usual corner and slumped down staring out of the window.  
  
His eyes were dull green, not like the usual brilliant bright green that Ginny always could not resist taking a second look at. Ginny wondered what had caused the sudden change in Harry but she did not want to confront him. She knew very well that he would share the problems only when he was prepared to and instead went to sit next to him shoulder to shoulder just wanting to show that she was there for him.  
  
They sat there with their heads resting on each other's head for about half an hour until suddenly, Harry spoke,  
  
"Today is Sirius's one month death anniversary" Harry croaked in a quivering voice.  
  
"I miss him too. He was a great man, Sirius was", Ginny sniffed.  
  
"Ginny, I miss him badly, especially today. I really wish I did not believe in that dream. I wish I did not fall for Voldermort's trick. I wish for a lot of things that had happened not to happen. I wish Sirius was still alive" Harry voice trailed away with the last words. Ginny turned to look at Harry exactly when a single tear escaped from his eyes that were now red and puffy.  
  
Ginny had vitnessed that all, the Harry she was facing now was a very frail soul. Harry's heart was broken, he had lost his parents when he was very young and hardly knew them and now when he had discovered that he had a godfather after thirteen years of being alone in this world, he had lost him too. Ginny knew what he was going through, carrying the world's burden on his young shoulders, feeling all alone in the world, holding himself responsible for all those things that had happened these few years. But Ginny felt differently, she felt that Harry was a victim.  
  
"Look Harry, it's not your fault all these things had happened. It's Tom's fault, no one's blaming you so stop blaming yourself. You didn't want all these things to happen but they were out of your control". Ginny was whispering but there was a tone of firmness in her voice.  
  
"You don't understand, you never will. You never lost your parents and not remember them at all. You didn't see your friend and godfather killed right in front of your eyes, while being able to do nothing to save them but still managing to be alive. You can never understand the feeling of always wondering whether you are being possessed and attacking people. You never saw people who was close to you keeping themselves out of your sight all the times in case you turn nutters and do them all in. You never have these nightmares that were consuming you into nothing. You were never tricked into believing that your godfather was being held prisoner and tried to play hero by going to his rescue and because of your foolishness, you friends were all injured and your godfather was killed while trying to save your stinking worthless skin", Harry was rambling, his voice rising, his anger and frustration increasing with each word, all directed at Ginny, his fists were held tight, his fingernails digging deep into the palm of his hand. Ginny was shocked, she hadn't expected Harry to accuse her and turn hostile towards her. She was stunned and at a loss for words. Ginny wanted to very much to snap back at Harry but before she could open her mouth, Harry cut her off.  
  
"You thought you could understand because of that little incident in the Chamber of Secrets. So what if you had been possessed by Voldermort. So what if you set a great dirty snake around the school petrifying people. You think you've been through the worst but I've been through much worse and don't give me that rubbish of you understanding how I feel now because....", before Harry could finish his sentence, a hot and itchy slap and landed on his face. He was stunned and looked up to see Ginny Weasley standing on her feet, towering over him in rage,  
  
"HARRY POTTER, YOU GREAT GIT. YOU ARE THE GREATEST PRAT IN THE WHOLE WORLD. YOU HAVE INTERPRETED MY CONCERN FOR YOU INTO SOME DISGUSTING INTENTIONS. I WONDER WHAT HAD I SEEN IN YOU BEFORE TO FALL HEAD OVER HEELS FOR YOU. I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR INSULTING MY PERSONALITY", Ginny shouted herself hoarse and stormed out of the room leaving a pathetic looking Harry in his own thoughts.  
  
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This chapter was a revised version. The Backliner had kindly help me spot out some mistakes and I've altered them. The plot is the same as the 1st version only that this version is more perfect. Thanks Backliner!! 


	10. Dudley's Bad Luck

Hello fellow friends, I haven't read ur reviews when I'm writing this chapter. A lot of u has sent me personal email to encourage me. I appreciate ur caring and efforts. I can't imagine what will I be without u people. There is no word to express my gratitude to u all, but thanks I love u!!  
  
PS* The Backliner, hah kindly helped me look through this chapter. This chap is the revised version. Three cheers to The Backliner for he had most willingly taken up the job as my beta reader in addition to his role as a reviewer. (Hip Hip Hurray!!)  
  
Here is the chapter of the day!!  
  
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Scene: Inside Harry's room  
  
Ginny slammed the door behind her, leaned against the room door and slid down to the floor. She was breathing hard, blood was pounding in her ears and Harry's last words echoed in her mind,  
  
"You thought you could understand .... you thought you've been through the worst.... Don't give me that rubbish of you understanding how I feel now...."  
  
Harry had been so happy and nice to her throughout the week and now, all of a sudden, when Ginny thought that everything was just too good, Harry had hurt her that much.  
  
Harry's voice echoed in her mind again, only that this time, it was ten times louder and clearer. Ginny tried to shake the menacing voice out of her head and suddenly, a sneeze was heard echoing in the corridor. She jerked her head in the direction of the source of the noise. Three Dursleys' head could be seen peering out of their rooms on her left. From the look of their faces, Ginny suspected that they had heard the quarrelling and were trying to eavesdrop.  
  
Ginny was in a very bad temper at that moment and their nosiness was getting on her nerves. It was bad enough that Harry had shouted at her and there they were, trying to prey and poke into their business. Ginny shot them a murderous look that caused them to shut the doors on their own faces.  
  
After two slams were heard, Ginny folded her long legs and hugged them. A new wave of misery gushed back into her heart, Harry's stupid voice kept on repeating itself until Ginny felt that she was going bonkers. Feeling awfully stranded, Ginny pulled herself off the ground roughly, ran down the stairs and disappeared into the darkness at the landing.  
  
*  
  
Ginny had been sitting on the swing in the muggles' garden, crying her eyes out for the past half an hour. The darkness engulfed her and the cold wind of the night froze her to her marrows but she just couldn't stop crying. She hated Harry, hated him for making her sound like a person of a lowly character, she hated fate for playing with her.  
  
It was only twenty-four hours ago when they were having a pillow fight. Harry had lost and played dirty by tickling Ginny. Ginny was tickled to her knees begging for mercy when Ginny pretended to have a cough fit. When Harry realized that Ginny was not too well, he stopped and pat her at the small of her back trying to help her ease the coughing when she suddenly turned to tickle him back.  
  
Ginny thought that boys were not afraid of tickles, for Ron, Bill, Charlie and even Percy wasn't, although Fred and George were but Ginny always suspected that they were faking it. But, Harry reaction was really hilarious, he went limp and collapsed onto the floor squirming and squiggling, begging Ginny to stop. One could never have thought that the famous Harry Potter who had defeated the Dark Lord and escaped from death uncountable times, would be afraid of tickles. The memory of the previous night made the corner of Ginny's lips curl no matter how unwilling she was. Harry was red in the face and could hardly breathe properly; he even went to the extent of covering himself with the blanket to protect him from another tickling attack.  
  
Ginny was now crying and laughing at the same time, if anyone was able to spot her in the darkness, they would think that she was cracking up. But, sorrow took the better of her and after a few minutes, she started crying again. When her tears ran dry, her throat went sore and she could not cry anymore, an unexpected person appeared from the dark and settled himself beside her.  
  
Ginny felt the swing swinging slightly as another weight was added onto it, Ginny gasped in fright and turned to see the last person she wanted to see when she was crying-Dudley.  
  
"Go away you git, or I'll hex you", Ginny said in the steadiest voice she could muster while sniffing. Instead of going away, Dudley smirked.  
  
"Crying over the little quarrel with your boyfriend?"  
  
"That prat is not my boyfriend, don't mention him in front of me and go away", Ginny snapped.  
  
"I should have guessed, he was a coward without that wooden stick. He whimpers and cries in his sleep, I doubt if he was even a guy", Ginny liked Dudley less and less by the minute, he sounded like a great dirty liar who gloated over others' misfortune.  
  
"He is nothing but just a freak, a useless good-for-nothing bum like his father", at this Ginny turned to look at Dudley and gave a deep frown. Due to the dark, the bighead Dudley could not see Ginny's facial expressions and thought that her reaction was due to agreement. He then continued with a superior air,  
  
"He is a nutter. I heard him muttering in his sleep about this Cedric, Sirius and his parents. He always screamed about this Voldemoy guy and said something like wanting to kill him with his bare hands. If you ask me, I think that Cedric and Sirius was most probably murdered by him and they were haunting him in his dreams", Ginny felt anger coming back to her emotions, although Harry was a prat, he was not to be falsely accused by people with brains smaller than a bird's, like Dudley.  
  
How dare he suggest that Harry was a good-for-nothing bum after all he had gone through!  
  
"That boy is dangerous, he is capable of murder, and he is not safe to be with.."  
  
"NO! HE IS NOT!" Ginny shouted through clenched teeth. Dudley looked at Ginny's direction in surprise, but he did not want to give in so easily,  
  
"But he really is, even my dad says so." That was enough, Dudley had reached Ginny's limit, and those who knew Ginny well would have had went into hiding when she raised her voice at them.  
  
"SHUT UP ABOUT HARRY", Ginny's voice echoed in the night causing several stray cats to run away seeking for refuge at the sudden noise. Before Dudley knew what had happened, he was thrown across the front yard and lay there unable to move an inch. He panicked and tried to shout but no noise came out of his mouth. From the dim lights coming from the streets lamps, he could see Ginny walking towards him and place her face close to his, her face was twisted with fury.  
  
"My God!! This girl is a witch. Harry lied to us, someone save me!!", Dudley thought fast. He held his breathe when Ginny started to speak,  
  
"That will teach you a lesson, all right, you great oaf. You better shut up about all those lies your great prune of a father told you. If I hear anything about Harry coming from your mouth, I'll make sure you can never stand up again" Ginny hissed at Dudley like an angry cat and walked away.  
  
Dudley watched her retreating back disappear into the house and suddenly the force holding him down ceased. Dudley picked himself up, brushed the dirt off him and thought to himself,  
  
"That girl looks more terrifying than Harry. The look she gave me makes me have those collywobbles. I think I better not mess with her, I better try to get friendly with her or heaven knows what she or those people under her order will do to me." Dudley cursed himself for landing himself into such trouble all the way back to his room. When he reached the front of Harry's room, he stopped for a moment and tried to listen for any noise He was concentrating on picking up any noise when he suddenly remembered Ginny's warning, he cursed himself again and quickly scampered back to his room.  
  
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So how? How is this chapter? Dudley finally got the taste of Ginny's temper. Wow, both Harry and Dudley had the honour of getting it at the same day. Yeah, Harry is a great git, he was already like that in his fifth year, remember? Fifth year made him kinda freaky, but no problem. Our dear Ginny is going to cure him of his freakiness. Yeah, go Gin!! 


	11. Wet Harry

Here, I'll like to acknowledge my lovely reviewers and answer some questions!!  
  
The Vampire Story Hunter Arrow-card  
  
SicDreamsInc  
  
The Backliner Thnks for being my beta reader!! This chapter is dedicated to u!! u got the priory to read it first hand. (Oops! I think other readers would wanna kill u for that!! Have mercy on him, ppl!! Muah haha!!) Kneh13 Mionelover  
  
The One Above All  
  
Ques: how come harry is being such a jackass? Ans: he's not, just that grief got the better of him and he simply flared up Miss-lily-evans Irishdancer61790 Ques: hey great story could you please post the next chap tonight??maybe even two??PWESE! just for me? Ans: sorry I did not post the next chap that day cos it's not even ready that day. If I have, I'll most willing to post it just for u!! here is my next chap and its dedicated to you!! Winky55 Dancy  
  
LuthienGranger2004  
  
Fcuking Cathy Ques: that's really really good...could u please e-mail me when u update? Ans: u could add my story in ur fav story list, in this way fanfic would notify u when I update. Sarah  
  
Arlene  
  
Comos12 i-h8-sclub (1)Ques: What about James? He died to save Harry too Ans: yes, James did but it slipped off my mind when I wrote that part, forgive me!! (2)Ques: Ok, good story but why did he want Ginny to change into a dress? She should have smacked him & told him 2 get lost! Ans: do u think she will smack him? No, she like him too much. Will u smack ur crush when he/her tell u to do something? (3)Ques: Good story, even though Harry's a bit of a dumbass! Just a few points, Cedric wasn't Harry's friend. Harry never liked him because of Cho. And though Percy is a pratt, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George & Ron are what you'd call brothers to Ginny! They love her to bits! But besides that the story ROCKS! You've got to keep updating! If not I'll hunt you down & make you write! (Well maybe not, but you get my drift!) Ans: harry knew cedric and can be considered as a friend, to me it's like that. Yeah Fred, George, Ron and Percy love Ginny but they never show it. They make fun of her all the time but yes they love her. But only bill and Charlie show their brotherly love.  
  
Patipati22  
  
Hermionegreen  
  
Phoenioxjedi  
  
Obsessed87 Serenity55 Steph D.Torres Moon girl Tinka Ques:Um...isn't Ginny dating Dean after Harry's fifth year? Ans: yes she is but I'm a HP/GW shipper. (so dean, be prepared to be ditched!! Muah haha!!)  
  
** This chapter is dedicated to all reviewers. Here's the chapter of the week!!  
  
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Scene: In Harry's bedroom  
  
Harry sat in the corner thinking things through, Ginny's furious face kept flashing in his mind. Harry had to admit to himself that she was really angry. He had hurt her pretty badly with his words. Harry felt guilty and ashamed of his behaviour, he had promised himself and Ron that he would take good care of Ginny which included making sure that she was not hurt or unhappy. But he had failed to do so, he had let his mood and temper get the better of himself. The more he thought of it, the heavier it weighed on his conscience. He knew perfectly well that he was at fault but he just didn't want to admit it. After all, he reasoned, it was because of Ginny that he had flared up. Harry felt better with that excuse; the devil in his mind had won the debate.  
  
The door opened to show a still angry-looking Ginny, Harry turned his head to look at the intruder. Ginny was glaring daggers at him, making Harry feel very threatened and he resumed what he was staring at a moment ago.  
  
Ginny slammed the door behind her, causing the windows to rattle, threatening to break free from the steel holding them. Ginny stride across the room and threw herself onto the bed without changing into pyjamas. There was no movement in the room for several minutes. Harry was sure that Ginny had fallen asleep and risked stealing a look at her. She was lying on the bed with her back facing him and had the blanket covered up to her head.  
  
Ginny did not want to face Harry; the mere sight of him irked her. She did not even want to feel his presence. Ginny buried herself under the blanket trying to block out Harry's presence. Ginny wanted to fall asleep fast so that she would not have to feel any emotion, just peace in her heart and with great difficulty; she drifted into an uneasy sleep.  
  
The trees outside swayed with the cold night wind, their leaves rustling madly. Harry stayed in his corner listening to nature's symphony in rhythm with Ginny's breathing. He listened as Ginny's breathing change from sharp intaking of air to soft rhythmic breathing, she had slowly fallen asleep.  
  
Harry wanted very badly to sleep in peace too but he just could not, no matter how he tried. He continued staring out of the window, hoping that he would fall asleep. Harry sat there motionless, his brains were empty of all thoughts, he wasn't felling sad neither was he angry. He was freed of all emotion; all he could do was to stare into the space.  
  
*  
  
The day was breaking but Harry was still awake his eyes were transfixed to the window; his eyes were swollen and red because he hadn't got a wink of sleep the night before. Ginny tossed in the bed, the groans of the springs in the mattress jerked Harry roughly back to earth. For the first time since the previous night Harry felt something. His head was as heavy as lead, he could hardly open his heavy eyelids. Harry could feel a big headache coming.  
  
Harry couldn't remain in the sitting position anymore, his muscles were protesting. He slumped down onto the cold hard floor, his stiff body pressed against the hard floor wasn't much of a comfort. Harry lay there massaging the side of his head trying to ease the spinning sensation. Harry couldn't keep track how long he had been laying there for he was much too preoccupied with himself.  
  
The sun was at its highest before Ginny stirred. She felt refreshed but there was something preoccupying her. Ginny could not tell what was bothering her early in the morning, she tossed and turned in the bed trying to recall but to no avail. Feeling frustrated, Ginny sat up and she noticed the little border at the corner, which was Harry and all memories, rushed back her brain.  
  
"Yes, that's it. Harry made me mad last night and we quarrelled", Ginny thought grimly to herself. She picked herself off the bed and walked out of the room to go to the washroom. The closing of the door startled Harry; he sat upright and scanned through the room.  
  
"Blimey, it's already eleven. Aunt Pertunia would had already cleared away breakfast by now and lunch would only be ready two hours later. Ginny hadn't any muggle money with her, I better bring her to the café", Harry thought. As Harry was thinking, Ginny returned from the washroom. She saw Harry, rolled her eyes at him and stormed out of the room.  
  
"That girl is really stubborn", Harry thought angrily, "I better go after her before she goes too far". Harry pushed himself off the floor with difficulty, staggered out of the room and half run half slid down the stair in an attempt to run after Ginny. Harry reached the landing in time to hear Dudley's falsely cheerful voice,  
  
"Morning Ginny, my mum has cleared away breakfast and lunch will not be served until two hours later. To apologise for what happened last night, I want to treat you to brunch at the café".  
  
"Last night? What about last night? What did Dudley do to Ginny last night?" for a fleeting moment, Harry visualised Dudley putting his arm around a sobbing Ginny. Harry brushed away the thought with disgust and by the time he regained himself, both Ginny and Dudley were nowhere to be found. He ran out of the house and saw them walking down the street side by side.  
  
Ginny was walking very fast trying to get away from Dudley but he continued following her very closely like a puppy. If under normal circumstances, Ginny would have done something to Dudley but at the moment, she was not in the mood to be bothered with him. Ginny threw Dudley a look of loathing every minute but he didn't get the message and kept jogging up to keep pace with her. Ginny had no idea where to go but just to get away from Harry and if possible Dudley too. She had walked a good stretch of lane and now she felt both tired and hungry. Ignoring Dudley, she decided to go the café she and Harry used to go, thinking that she could rest and fill her stomach there.  
  
Fred and George had smuggled some muggle money to her for use in case of emergency making her promise not tell anyone that it was from them.  
  
"This is a case of emergency", Ginny thought, "I'm going to die of hunger and that's a serious case". Pretending that she did not know Dudley who had taken the sit opposite her, Ginny looked around trying to get the attention of the plump little lady who greatly resembled Mrs Weasley.  
  
"Hello. Miss!! Here again today? Where is your handsome young friend? Not with you today?" the lady asked Ginny sweetly.  
  
"Erm... erm.. He has got something on today and can't make it today. So, I came on my own", Ginny replied awkwardly. The lady smiled and eyed Dudley who was staring at Ginny. Noticing what the lady was looking at, Ginny spoke quickly,  
  
"I'm famished, madam. Can I have a spaghetti and a coke, please?", Ginny tried to shift the lady's attention with success, as she gave Ginny a big smile and went away to prepare the order. Ginny now turned her attention to Dudley who was eyeing her as if she was a piece of juicy meat he longed to get. Ginny cleared her throat loudly and shot Dudley a dirty look.  
  
Dudley got the massage finally and turned his attention to the order list instead. The lady returned with Ginny's order a while later and she began to eat. Dudley ordered a double cheeseburger, a chocolate sundae, fries and a large coke. They sat there in silence paying attention to their food, but never did they know that Harry had been following them and was now observing then through the glass pane at their side.  
  
Harry was worried about Ginny when he saw Dudley following her. He was afraid for her and decided to follow them to see what Dudley was up to. Harry's stomach rumbled loudly as he stood in front of the glass pane, he had hardly eaten anything since lunch the day before. His head was starting to spin again like Moody's magical eye and he felt queasy in his stomach.  
  
He didn't let them see him for he knew perfectly well, Ginny would not appreciate his action and he also didn't want to put Dudley on his guard, he wanted to see what Dudley had up his sleeves. Harry saw that Ginny had finished eating but Dudley was still gorging himself with fries. He watched Ginny as she looked out of the glass pane in front of her, her head propped up with an arm,  
  
"She sure had grown up very nicely", Harry thought as he studied her, "No wonder so many guys were at her heels". Harry was so engrossed in looking at Ginny that he didn't realise that the sky above him had turned to a nasty colour---grey. It seemed that it was going to rain soon.  
  
All too soon, big drops of rain fall into Harry's messy hair, in no time, buckets of water was pouring down from the sky. The location where Harry was standing at didn't cover him from the rain; he was drenched to the skin in no time. There was nowhere to shelter from the rain except in the café but Harry stubbornly stood at his ground, he didn't want Ginny to know his presence by storming into the cafe.  
  
"After all those fatal Quidditch accidents, a little rain can't kill", Harry thought stubbornly and continued standing in the summer rain.  
  
As sudden as the downpour, the rain stopped about fifteen minutes later. Harry was soaked to his skin, shivering to his bones, standing on his toes outside the café. He looked into the café and saw people sipping hot drinks; how he wished that he was one of them. Harry was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hugging himself to keep himself a little warmer when the little bells hanging on the café's door tinkle. He turned to that direction and saw Ginny and Dudley walking out.  
  
They walked side by side going towards the direction of No.4 Privet Drive with Harry trailing behind them taking care to not step into mud puddles or disturb any fallen leaves lying on the road. Many times, Harry wanted very badly to sneeze but held it back by holding his breath until the sneezing sensation subsided.  
  
By the time they could see the all-familiar sight of Privet Drive from afar, the sun was no longer hiding behind the clouds. The afternoon sun was shining fiercely onto the back of Harry's neck causing a burning sensation which was not comfortable at all, adding to his physical discomfort. Harry was very grateful that Ginny didn't go anywhere else but head back to Privet Drive. Harry doesn't think he could hang on any longer if he was to follow her to more places. After Ginny and Dudley went into the house, Harry stayed outside for fifteen minutes before going in so that Ginny would not suspect anything.  
  
When Harry stood at the doorsteps still quite wet with mud stains on his pants and trainers, Aunt Pertunia's beady little eyes opened wide at the state he was in. She tutted loudly in disgust mopping the wet trail Harry left behind as he climbed up the stirs wearily to his room.  
  
Ginny was in the room sitting on the bed idly when Harry entered. She looked at Harry with a look of disgust as she inspected him from head to toe before turning her gaze away. Harry walked across the room to the cupboard to get some clean clothes and went out of the room leaving a wet trail behind him.  
  
Ginny turned to look at the door Harry had disappeared behind and shook her head disapprovingly. What a state he was in, there was not a dry spot on him. Ginny could not believe that he was that thick enough to not seek cover when it rained.  
  
"He better not catch a cold, not that I give a damn about him. I don't even pity him." Ginny thought stubbornly while unconsciously a part of her was going out to Harry.  
  
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Haha, like it? Tell me!! Maybe some of u would like to express their thanks to the young handsome gentleman, The Backliner, who had took only a few days to beta read this chap. Thanks Backliner!! 


	12. Sick Harry and Caring Ginny

To all who are afraid that I'll stop half-way, I would not if the reviews are coming in but the reviews are getting less, I might just give up. As you know, I'm very extremely busy with school work, the work load is driving me crazy and that's why I'm updating kinda slow, hope you all would understand. I would end the story nicely if I would be too busy to write anything as long as there are supporters.  
  
Just review and I'll do my job of delivering fanfics to brighten up ur day!! There is the chap of the day, just for you!!  
  
One more thing, I'll like to thank The Backliner here for beta reading this chap in recorded time. He finished it in 6 hr, and mind u 6 hr later is the time I check my mail, heaven knows he must have finished it in less than 6 hrs. Isn't it a wow thing? Thanks Backliner!!  
  
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Ginny had left the room by the time Harry returned from the bath, Harry felt thoroughly refreshed after the hot bath but there was something that was not very right with him. The headache simply refused to go away and in fact, it was getting worse. Harry had to fight his way back from the bathroom to his room, his vision was so blurred that he almost walked blindly onto the stairs and would most probably had fallen to his doom.  
  
The weather was chilly after the rain, and Harry put on a jumper. Despite him being warmly clothed, Harry still felt cold and he was shivering. His stomach was churning and the feeling made him want to throw up. He felt so uncomfortable that he simply heaved himself onto the bed trying to make himself more comfy.  
  
Harry wanted to sleep for he was sure he would feel better if he did so but his mind simply refused, concentrating on the discomfort instead; refusing to close up. Harry tossed and turned in the bed in pain, the feeling was so terrible that he wished to just end everything. Finally, he could not take the protest of his body any longer, Harry slipped quietly into semi consciousness and the people in the rest of the house had no idea that he was severely sick.  
  
* Ginny didn't want to linger around in the room when Harry was in it so she decided to go over to Mrs Figg's house to spend the day watching people move in a box. The old lady was lonely and always welcomed visitors; she was so oblivious to her surroundings that Ginny doubted if she would notice Harry's absence.  
  
Ginny knocked on the door of No.8 Privet Drive and she was greeted warmly by the peculiar old lady. Ginny stepped into the house and settled in front of the television watching 'The Simpsons', which was her favourite show although she was always puzzled why does those people looked so funny. Ginny watched television and cuddled one of Mrs Figg's cat, Thi Thi, which was Ginny's favourite among the others, through the rest of the afternoon until too soon the sun had set.  
  
Although Ginny was reluctant to go back, she still bade Mrs Figg goodnight and promised to return the next day thinking whether she would be turning up with Harry the next day. Ginny retreated from Mrs Figg's house and walked slowly back to the muggles' house in the peaceful night.  
  
When Ginny entered the dining room, the three Dursleys was already going through the second dish. The moment they saw Ginny, they stopped whatever they were talking about a moment ago as she walked over to settle down at the seat at the far end of the long table. Her food was already set on the table together with Harry's but he was nowhere to be seen at the table. Ginny's intuition told her that something was wrong but she ignored the warning alarm and ate her dinner. Looking down at her plate, Ginny sensed someone moving towards her and settled on the seat at her side. Thinking it was Harry, Ginny raised up her head expectantly but was greatly disappointed to see a pig like face looking back at her merrily. Ginny was annoyed that Dudley had took the seat Harry usually sat at and rolled her eyes at him in detest, she continued eating, paying no attention to the unwelcome intruder.  
  
Although Ginny did not acknowledge Dudley's presence, he didn't seem to be put off. Dudley tried to engage Ginny in a conversation by asking her where she had been the whole afternoon and how he was looking for her around the whole neighbourhood for he wanted to introduce his friends to her. Dudley was so engrossed in trying to get her to reply that he didn't notice that his parents were staring at them wide-eyed. Ginny noticed that but was not amused by their reaction for she was too preoccupied in wondering why Harry hadn't come down for dinner.  
  
Ginny recalled that something was not right about Harry; his eyes had been dull and blank when she saw him in the room early that day. Half-way through her dinner, Ginny stood up abruptly and left the table leaving behind a bewildered looking Dudley and an astounded Aunt Pertunia and Uncle Vernon.  
  
*  
  
Ginny entered the room and stood in the dark for a while before her fingers found the light switch and turned it on; the sight that welcomed her was shocking. Harry was lying on the bed reeking of vomit, his face was pale white and he seemed to be semiconscious. He was moaning softly and wasn't aware of Ginny's existence. Ginny was frantic, she didn't know what to do. She was thinking of writing to her mum to tell her but it would be too late by the time she received the letter, Harry was extremely sick and she don't think he could hang on without any attention any longer.  
  
Ginny felt so helpless that she was in tears, she paced around the room unsure what to do and the sight of the mess Harry was in upset her. Ginny chided herself and suddenly a thought stuck her, she could try to make Harry feel better by making him comfortable. Not wasting any more time as a lot had been wasted, Ginny rushed out of the room and returned with a basin of lukewarm water and a small towel. Ginny tried to heave Harry up to a sitting position and began taking his sodden jumper and the T-shirt under it off, she then cleaned the filth off Harry.  
  
Ginny helped Harry put on a clean set of tops, changed the bed and laid him back onto it, his head propped up with pillows and a thick blanket covering him. After cleaning up Harry, Ginny checked Harry to find out what was wrong with him when she realised that he was having a temperature (fever). Without thinking Ginny rushed out of the room with the basin of mucky water and returned with a basin of ice-cold water and several more small towels.  
  
Ginny soaked the towel in the cold water, wrung it and laid it on Harry's forehead, neck and chest. Harry looked better, he was no longer moaning and in fact, he had fallen into a peaceful slumber. Ginny was very pleased with herself; seeing that Harry was feeling better and left the room with the sodden clothes and bedsheets.  
  
The muggles had turned in and Ginny was left to wash the bedsheets and Harry's clothes and hang them up, she felt very tired after doing so much without magic. She made herself a hot drink and was enjoying it when she suddenly remembered that Harry hadn't taken his dinner. Ginny searched around the kitchen for some food but there wasn't any leftover from dinner, not even any soup.  
  
"He couldn't do without any food especially when he's all frail and ill", Ginny thought and she decided to cook some plain egg porridge. With much difficulty, Ginny managed to find the eggs, rice and utensils, turn on the electric stove and cook the porridge. Ginny always helped her mum with the cooking, and egg porridge wasn't a problem only that she didn't know how to operate the electric stove that had no fire, but Ginny managed to get a bowl of delicious looking egg porridge all right.  
  
After the tedious battle with the electric stove, the kitchen was in a mess. Knowing that Aunt Pertunia would scream if she saw the state the kitchen was in, Ginny forced herself to clean it to its original state despite her muscles protesting against doing additional work. By the time Ginny was done with the cleaning, the porridge was still warm and she hurried upstairs to bring it to Harry before it turned cold.  
  
Harry was still soundly asleep when Ginny returned, she whispered in Harry's ear,  
  
"Harry, I've got you some egg porridge, eat it before it turns cold. I know you don't want to risk eating anything but trust me, you will feel better after eating it". Not waiting for a response from Harry, Ginny pulled him to a sitting position propped up with pillows; blew the porridge and fed him; she was afraid that Harry would not swallow it but as if he had really heard Ginny, Harry swallowed spoonfuls and spoonfuls of porridge slowly without opening his eyes. After the porridge was almost finished, Ginny left Harry at that position for a while for she wanted to make sure the porridge was on the process of being digested before laying him back onto bed.  
  
Ginny sponged Harry with wet towels continuously throughout the night until she unknowingly fell asleep sitting on the floor with her head resting on the side of the bed and when Harry tossed in bed, he by coincidence happened to place his hand on Ginny's sleeping head.  
  
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How was it? Touching, or simply rubbish? Tell me!! Pls review, I'm surviving on reviews, the more reviews I receive, the more I want to hurry up just for you!! Review!!  
  
Poll: I'm planning to write a new fanfic. It's gonna be a H/G fic, the setting would be at Harry's 7th year and he planned to fight volde one day without telling any1. he was sure he ws not going to survive and left ron, herm and gin a letter but gin discovered the letter before harry went. Harry's letter to gin said that he loved her but is afraid to tell her cos he knew he have to leave one day. After discovering the letter, gin rushed to harry's private room and hugged him. The mature stuff happened *cough cough* (you-know-what) and harry left before gin woke up. Gin woke up to find harry gone and went to look for him and ...  
  
I'm not going to say anymore only that the story is to be a very extremely sad one. Pls tell me what you think, all comments will be taken well!! 


	13. Porridge and Reunion

Thanks for all the reviews!!  
  
Serenity55, I'm so sad to learnt that you dun like my chap 12. I'll try harder to write better fic.  
  
Lourdes (LBDomingo@aol.com), after seeing wat you had written, I'm really ashamed of myself. I agree with you, I shouldn't rely on reviews, I write fanfics because I love writing and wanna share my idea with others and seeing my story on net makes me happy.  
  
Anyway, ahbahh proudly presents the latest chap, enjoy and review!! (I still like people to review)  
  
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All too soon, drawn broke and Ginny lifted up her heavy head and stretched. Her muscles were all tight and painful; she rubbed her shoulders and picked herself up from the floor.  
  
"The floor is not a place for neither witch nor wizard to sleep on", Ginny thought to herself. She rubbed sleep away from her eyes and turn to see Harry who was still sleeping but there were no more painful expressions on his face, it was quite peaceful. Ginny leant over the bed to feel Harry's forehead, his temperature had gone down but it was still too warm. Ginny removed the towels on Harry's body, wet them and placed them back.  
  
Ginny was tired and she lay back onto the floor but the floor was too uncomfortable. Ginny tossed and turned on the cold hard floor to find a more comfortable position to lie in but it was simply pointless. Finally she gave up her intention of getting some more sleep and stood up to go and wash.  
  
It was still early for there was no sound of any activities below. The muggles were not up yet. Thinking that Harry might want some breakfast later, Ginny went to the kitchen to cook some oatwheat porridge. After rummaging through Aunt Petunia's kitchen shelves, Ginny managed to find some oatwheat and cooked them. Ginny made herself some tea as the oat wheat stood on the stove, boiling gently and footsteps could be heard coming down from the stairs.  
  
"The muggles were up, I don't mind them around as long as it's not that brainless oaf", Ginny thought to herself. As expected, Aunt Pertunia's head popped through the kitchen door and her eyes dart to the pot on the stove and Ginny who was standing in a corner sipping tea.  
  
"What are you doing in my kitchen?", Aunt Pertunia demanded while eyeing at Ginny and the pot suspiciously.  
  
"Just making some breakfast for Harry, nothing more", Ginny answered innocently.  
  
"But can you people cook? I thought people of your kind normally eat rats, frogs, snakes, spiders and stuff. What are you cooking? Don't tell me." Aunt Petunia's voice trailed off and she was looking at the pot nervously as if expecting some snake to climb out of it. Ginny's eyes watered as she tried to control herself from laughing,  
  
"How thick could this muggle woman be?" Ginny thought "Her sister and nephew of hers were of wizarding kind and yet she did not know that they ate normal stuff. Since when do we eat snakes and spiders?" Ginny had a coughing fit as she choked on her own saliva. After composing herself, Ginny decided to play along.  
  
"No, we don't usually eat snakes and spiders", Aunt Petunia heaved a sigh of relief at this, "but we sometimes eat them to restore our power. Harry was sick and unfortunately lost a lot of his power due to that, so here I am cooking his favourite kidney porridge to help him regain power faster. He's the most important member of the order and no doubt the food he eats must be of the best quality. The kidney is from a poor old bloke who passed away in the middle of the night and it was delivered here, fresh, early this morning". At this, Aunt Petunia looked as if she was going to faint, she leant against the kitchen wall for support and stared at Ginny, not knowing how to react.  
  
"I think Harry will be wanting his nourishing breakfast soon, excuse me if you don't mind", Ginny tried to look as if cooking human organ was a normal thing. She took a bowl and emptied the pot's content into it. She walked purposefully past Aunt Petunia making sure she would catch a glimpse of the soggy looking contents in the bowl. After Ginny walked out of the kitchen, she had a hard time trying not to laugh, her hands were shaking and she had to grasp the bowl tightly to prevent it from slipping out of her hands. Ginny hurried up the stairs and halfway through, she could hear retching sounds coming from the kitchen, needless to say, it was Aunt Petunia.  
  
Ginny sprinted up the rest of the stairs, back to the room and slammed the door behind her. She deposited the bowl of oatwheat porridge on the desk and collapsed onto the floor laughing and banging her fist on it. She was out of breath from the laughing and it took her a while before she caught her breath and straightened up.  
  
Harry was already awake and was sitting upright on the bed. He was looking at Ginny with a funny facial expression as if doubtful of her sanity. Ginny looked at his pale and sickly face and she was in a dilemma. One part of her wanted to smile at him to assure him that everything was going to be all right and another part of her wanted to be hostile, to punish him for making her miserable. But the more she looked at his thin face, she realised that these few days, every single day had been a torment for him, and now, he was ill, she just didn't have the heart to make him suffer any more.  
  
Ginny gave Harry a big grin to assure him that everything was over and she saw him relax and return a weak smile. Ginny took the bowl of oat-wheat porridge from the desk and sat at Harry's side.  
  
"I've just cooked this; eat it while it's still hot. It may be too bland for your liking but you are not well, you can't be eating toast and all those junk stuff." Ginny said in a motherly fashion that reminded Harry of Mrs Weasley. She blew the porridge and fed Harry, at the first swallow, Harry choked and coughed, Ginny patted his back carefully to help him ease the discomfort. Finally when Harry's coughing subsided, Ginny continued feeding him with the same patience as she showed the previous night. Normally, Harry would protest when people treat him like a three-year-child but now, he was simply letting Ginny do whatever she wanted to him. The reasons being that he didn't want to risk Ginny being angry with him again and that he was too busy looking at her to be bothered with such a trivial matter.  
  
Harry wanted to talk to Ginny but the spoon kept on filling his mouth with food, stopping him from doing so. He tried swallowing the food quickly so that he would have the chance to talk, but another spoon would be stuffed into his mouth again before he could speak.  
  
After several attempts, Harry got annoyed and he gripped Ginny's wrist to stop her from stuffing his mouth with food, just so he could start talking. However Ginny's dangerously low voice rang the room,  
  
"Harry James Potter, you better keep still or I'll just turn the bowl of porridge over your brainless head". Harry had heard that Ginny could turn very nasty if you go against her wishes and he had tasted her famous 'Weasley Cannon' temper recently so he didn't dare to disobey her and kept very still allowing her to stuff him with that gooey stuff.  
  
After Harry had finished the oat-wheat porridge, Ginny stood up from the side of the bed and walked away. When she was at the front of the door, her hand at the door knob, Harry spoke and she froze,  
  
"Ginny... I.. I'm so sorry I shouted at you that day. I'm in the wrong, I'm a great prat but I hope you will forgive me. Will you?" he asked while looking at the blanket at his feet, twiddling it in his fingers.  
  
Ginny knew Harry was sincerely asking for forgiveness and she didn't fancy having only Dudley, that annoying pig as the only company. She had been waiting for Harry to apologise first for she stubbornly thought that it hadn't been her fault and she wasn't used to apologising, just like Ron.  
  
Harry was getting anxious when Ginny did not reply for she was too far in her own thoughts, he continued twiddling the shabby blanket and it started to fray. After Ginny took in Harry's words, she turned, ran towards Harry and gave him a gentle hug to assure him.  
  
This innocent little hug meant a lot to Harry, it meant that from now onwards he did not have to endure loneliness, he could stay around Ginny openly to protect her from Dudley and also that both of them were going to enjoy each other's company again.  
  
Ginny let go of Harry quickly, ran to the door and wrenched it open. She mumbled something that sounded oddly like 'I'm sorry too' and disappeared behind it. Harry thought that he had heard things, he had heard from Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and Percy that Ginny never apologised to anybody in her whole life (except her mum and dad), not even if she was at fault. Harry could not believe that she had said sorry to him. Finally he made himself believe that he was hearing things and laid back down on the bed, trying to sleep and in no time he was already sound asleep, it was his most peaceful sleep in these few days.  
  
*  
  
Ginny was smiling like an idiot when she skipped down the stairs; she was in good terms with Harry again. She had missed Harry these few days, she felt incomplete when Harry was not around her and that Dudley had took the opportunity of their squabble to come close to her. Ginny hated it when he always find ways and means to stay close to her and try to engage her in a conversation, but now, she would have no more worries about Dudley and him pestering her, she was sure Harry would see to that.  
  
When Ginny reached the landing of the stairs, she saw a shadow dash from the kitchen to the living room. Ginny frown and went into the kitchen, she went to the sink and washed the bowl. Ginny reached over to the draining tray to put the bowl there when she caught sight of a sparkling bright pot lying among potato peelings in the rubbish bin, it looked oddly like the pot Ginny used to cook Harry's breakfast.  
  
Ginny walked absentmindedly to the dining room wondering why was the pot thrown away when a thought struck her, Aunt Petunia threw it away because she believed that some human organ was cooked in it. Ginny sniggered and looked up; Aunt Petunia's head could be seen at the doorway of the living room for a spilt second before it disappeared behind it. Ginny's suspicion was confirmed; she chortled into her hand and turned into the dining room where her breakfast was waiting for her.  
  
Aunt Petunia didn't come into the dining room when Ginny was in it all the while; she believed Aunt Petunia didn't want to be reminded of the kidney porridge. Smiling to herself, Ginny finished her meal in no time for she was famished and didn't linger around.  
  
On the way upstairs, two dull thuds could be heard from the kitchen, a bowl and a spoon had joined the pot in the rubbish bin. Shaking her head, Ginny wondered how long it would be before the house runs out of pots and pans if she cooked everyday, but at the moment, Ginny wasn't interested in testing it out, her eyes were painfully heavy and she would like nothing better than to drop straight onto the floor and sleep.  
  
Ginny entered the room to find Harry soundly asleep, she strode across the room to the corner where Harry usual slept and lay down. She looked over to the bed where Harry was and was jealous of Harry having to be able to sleep in the comfortable bed while she was there crushing her aching bones against the hard floor.  
  
Looking at Harry's pale face, Ginny felt ashamed of herself, Harry didn't make a single complain when he had been sleeping on the floor for so long. He had volunteered himself to discomfort so that Ginny could be comfortable, and here she was making so much noise when she only had slept on the floor for less than two days. Ginny felt utterly disgusted by herself and slowly she drifted off to a doze.  
  
In this way, both Harry and Ginny slept through several hours like a dead log oblivious to the entire world.  
  
~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~v~  
  
So how?? Comment!! Some of u felt that the last chap is total rubbish, no doubt I'm kinda sad to know that but stil I wanna tell u all, I love u all and all comments will be taken well!! Just wanna say, I'll try harder to present better fics. Results of the previous poll: Most people support the idea and I'm pleased to tell u, I'll write it. But the bad news is that, I'm unable to write it until around November. Yes , it's very long to my likings but due to homeworks stacked to the ceiling and coming exams, I've got my choice but to postpone new stories.  
  
But the good news are, I'll still be writing this fic although the period between updates would be kinda long, pls endure and I promise after my exams (the last 1 is on the 7th nov) I'll compensate by writing everyday, how abt it??  
  
Again, pls give me some suggestions to how to continue this, I'm running out of ideas but I'll not accept kissing. I HATE KISSING!! Mature stuff would not be happening here and lots of rubbish would not be happening!! I think I've said too much, anyway just review!! 


	14. Eye Bags

I express my thanks to the following reviewers, I love you ppl, a kiss to each of you: ~kittykid934 ~moon girl ~sarahamanda  
  
~kneh13  
  
~this guy  
  
~obsessed87  
  
~sickdreamsinc  
  
~D. Torres ~little house girl ~lourdes ~miss-lily-evans ~suzie:daughterofevil ~darcy16 ~hermionegreen ~comos12 ~the-mystic-fan ~patipati22 ~katani petetidra ~senerity55 (no worry, I'm not angry, I did realise that the last chap is a bit lame its not ur fault)  
  
~Thebackliner (my beta reader)  
  
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Ginny slowly woke up because the pain in her back was very painful; she slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position. The muscles in her back and waist were very tight; every movement she made was like having hundreds of needles poking through her. While fighting back the urge to groan in pain, Ginny noticed that it was already getting dark outside.  
  
"My God! I've slept through the whole day!" Ginny exclaimed aloud and the sound of someone tossing in bed made her jump. She turned her head to the source of the noise and found that Harry was still sleeping; Ginny slowly crawled over to him, trying not to make much noise.  
  
Ginny examined Harry closely and found that his breathing was fast, and he was muttering something inaudible. Ginny was worried and bent over to feel his forehead, to her surprise it was burning hot again.  
  
"He must have been running a temperature for the last few hours." Ginny thought and mentally chided herself for sleeping through the whole day and failing to take good care of Harry. Without wasting any more time, Ginny dashed out of the room and almost ran into Dudley who was on his way back to his room.  
  
Dudley staggered on the spot to get his balance back and before he realised what had pushed him, Ginny was already running back past him with the speed of the wind; back to her room and slammed the door. Everything happened so fast that Dudley had no idea what exactly had happened. In the end he decided that it was some magic at work and hurried back to his room for cover, afraid to be the next target of Harry or Ginny's magic works.  
  
Once back in the room, Ginny quickly wet the towel and placed it on Harry's forehead. She heaved a sigh of relief, took a chair and settled herself beside the bed. Ginny fed Harry hot milk with a spoon and sat there wetting the towel and changing pillows every five minutes for the rest of the night. She didn't dare to doze off and every time when she found her eyelids too heavy, she would jog around the room to keep herself awake. Ginny would take the blanket off Harry when he sweated and would put it back when she found it too cold. She had been doing that throughout the night, until sleep finally overtook her and she fell asleep with her head on Harry's stomach.  
  
~*~  
  
The next morning, Harry woke up to find something heavy and warm resting on his stomach. He picked the towel that was obstructing his view and threw it aside. To his surprise, it was Ginny's head that was resting on his stomach.  
  
"What was she doing with her head on my stomach?" Harry asked himself. He craned his head carefully to peep at Ginny's sleeping face to find that her closed eyes were swollen and there were bags under her eyes. Eyeing the towel lying on the floor, Harry thought to himself,  
  
"Poor thing, that girl must have stayed awake through the night to sponge me." Harry's heavy breathing had caused some disturbance to Ginny for she had turned her head to the other direction.  
  
Slowly as not to disturb Ginny, Harry held his breathe and carefully lay back down onto the bed. The area on his stomach where Ginny was was wet and warm with perspiration, but Harry didn't dare to move a bit. He tried to breathe slowly so as not to cause too much movement at his stomach and continued lying on the bed allowing Ginny to be as comfortable as possible on his stomach.  
  
The muscles on his stomach started to ache but he didn't dare to move, several hours passed in that manner. It was around mid afternoon before Ginny shifted her head off Harry's stomach. Harry's shirt around the stomach area was soaked with his own perspiration. He quickly and carefully jumped out of the bed and went out of the room on tiptoes.  
  
Harry went to the toilet to take a hot bath for he hadn't bathed properly for the past few days and when he returned, Ginny was already sitting up puffy eyed. She turned when she heard the door open to see an energized looking and sweet smelling Harry.  
  
"Good Morning Harry and do you feel better after the whole day of sleep?" Ginny asked while trying to hold back a big yawn.  
  
"Yes, I feel thoroughly refreshed. Thanks for taking care of me, I can see bags under your eyes, I think you didn't sleep properly last night. Why don't you sleep while I go buy us some breakfast." Harry said. Ginny jumped up and ran towards the mirror to examine her eyes,  
  
"Typical girls", Harry thought to himself and smirked. Ginny looked at him through the mirror and he forced his face straight.  
  
"No thanks, I had enough of sleep. Give me a minute while I wash up and I'll go with you", Ginny replied.  
  
"Take your time, have a hot bath, it'll do you good and of course, to your eyes too. Since you are so determined to follow me, I've got no choice but to wait for you, I don't want to be at the receiving end of your famous temper again and mind you, I had that five-finger mark on my face for a whole day." Ginny rolled her eyes at Harry and both of them laughed, it had been so long since they laughed and they felt better after a good laugh. Ginny tried her best to look annoyed but failed; finally she gave up and walked out of the room.  
  
Ginny felt very refreshed after soaking herself in hot water, she returned to the room to find Harry pacing around the room.  
  
"Did I really take that long?" Ginny asked and the next moment, Harry raced towards her and pressed a cold towel over her eyes.  
  
"What the devil are you trying to do?" Ginny shouted while trying to pry the towel off her.  
  
"Shut up and stop moving, what took you so long? The ice has melted. There is a bit of the ice left and it'll do your ugly eyes well, at least it'll help ease the swell." Ginny stopped fighting to break away and stood there allowing Harry to hold the cold towel over her eyes. After a while Ginny spoke,  
  
"That'll do, Harry. I think my eyes are okay now." Reluctantly, Harry took the towel away from Ginny's eyes, her eyes were not that puffy now but they were still too swollen. Ginny saw that Harry was not too pleased, and she added quickly,  
  
"I think my eyes look sexier this way, Fred and George would be pleased to see me in this state", at this, Harry smiled and added,  
  
"Yeah, your eyes look very sexy now because I can hardly see your eyeballs. I regret putting cold towel over it now; you look exactly like a pig". Both of them laughed and Ginny pinched Harry, he ran around the whole room shouting for help until Ginny caught up with him and tickled him until he begged for mercy. Harry was like a child sometimes; it was so easy to make him laugh.  
  
They went out of the house, Ginny held onto Harry's arm while they laughed, joked and pushed each other like two giggling kids all the way to the café where they enjoyed their brunch.  
  
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Short huh?? But I just can't make them any longer, many readers reflect that the chapters are too short but I simply cant add on anymore stuff. If I were to carry on writing, I would not know how to end the chapter nicely. Pls bear with my short chapter and I'll try to give you more updates in compensate for it. I always try not to have any cliff hangers cos I know it drives people crazy, so I'm not that evil anyway. 


	15. Soccer and Mark

Hi ppl, after receiving lots of threats, I have finally come up with another chapter. You may not believe it but some1 actually threatened to eat up my pillows so that I couldn't sleep in peace if I dun update soon. You know who you r, but if u really eat up my feather pillow, I'm gonna turn you into a big fluffy pillow and drool on you as I sleep. Haha!!  
  
And sorry people for not updating for the past 2 weeks. I have to prepare for my exams and I simply can't afford the time to write anything. Hope you all dun think that I'm giving up my fic halfway through, there is no way am I gonna give up writing.  
  
I've finished my exam * hip hip hurray * and I've got all the time in the world now. I just pray that I pass all my papers so that I dun have to take supplementary paper, it sucks.  
  
This chapter is dedicated to all of you.  
  
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Scene: At the café  
  
"Where do you want to go after this?" Ginny asked Harry, who was sipping coffee, shrugged his shoulders,  
  
"You give suggestions."  
  
"Maybe we'll just find a nice spot in the park and sit there", Ginny answered.  
  
"Okay with me, I'm too tired to go anywhere else anyway, shall we go now?" Harry put down his half drank coffee, footed the bill and they walked out of the café.  
  
~*~  
  
Harry had his hands in his front pockets of his fading grey jeans and Ginny had her hands behind her back. Harry was absorbed in his own thoughts while Ginny hummed a breakfast cereal jingle to herself. They walked in silence towards the direction of the park, the only noise was the humming of the insects and the crackling of dried up leaves under their feet.  
  
Before they realised it, they had reached the noisy park and settled themselves under a huge shady tree. They sat next to each other in silence, watching a group of boys around their age, shouting and screaming in excitement as they tried to kick a ball into the goal, which was only a huge net to Ginny.  
  
They watched for about fifteen minutes when a small raven-haired boy kicked the ball into the opponent's goal, which helped his team to gain an additional point. There was an immediate uproar after that, the whole team ran to him trying to slap his back.  
  
At this, Harry smiled. He could remember vividly when he caught the snitch on his first game, the first Gryffindor victory after the legendary Charlie Weasley left Hogwarts. The whole Quidditch team was slapping his back and the misty eyed Oliver wiping away tears, the moment was priceless. It was the best moment in his life, and this was the memory that enabled Harry to produce the best Patronus.  
  
After the crowd around the boy who had scored a moment ago thinned away, he spotted Harry and Ginny under the tree, and ran excitedly towards them.  
  
"Hiya Harry, hiya Ginny! Did you see that goal I scored?" the boy asked in a squeaky voice.  
  
"Yes, we did. It was simply awesome, I bet even David Beckham couldn't do it. Good one, Mark", Harry replied in a very sincere tone  
  
"He sure does know how to make people feel good", Ginny thought impressed.  
  
"Want to join us for a round?" Mark asked hopefully  
  
"Nah, I'm too tired and I'm not good at it like you are. Thanks though", Harry rejected Mark's invitation politely.  
  
Mark was now grinning from ear to ear, Harry's making him feel real good about himself.  
  
"Wow, the affect he had on people around him was great. There is always sunshine around him and that's why people like to hang around him. That's why I always love to be around him, even if he doesn't know of my existence", Ginny thought to herself  
  
"Well then, I've got to go. They are calling me", Mark said, gesturing at his teammates who were waving at them and went to rejoin them.  
  
Harry and Ginny sat back onto the tree and resumed watching the matching silence until Ginny suddenly broke the silence,  
  
"Harry....."  
  
"Hmm......?"  
  
"Are you always that nice to people, bringing joy to people around you?" Ginny asked timidly. After a long pause as if trying to absorb what Ginny just asked, he replied,  
  
"No". Ginny snapped her head to Harry's direction in surprise and stared at him, his posture was no longer relaxed; instead, it was sort of tensed up.  
  
"Everyone associated with me never come to a good ending. My parents, Sirius, Ron, Hermione and you. So many times, Ron and Hermione had almost died because of my attempts to be a hero. Mum, Dad and Sirius died to save my filthy skin when they could enjoy the world longer. And you, you were almost killed that night", Harry's voice trailed away.  
  
"No, Harry. You're wrong. Your parents exchanged their lives for yours because they love you too much to lose you. If supposing, you were killed that night and your parents survived the attack, do you think they will be happy? No, they will be living and suffering at the same time. They will die slowly; the pain and guilt would be eating them away. As for Sirius and us, we are willing to risk our lives for many other innocents who may cross the path of evil. We are all willing to exchange our lives for many more lives. And Sirius exchanged his life for ours because he thought that we were worth it". It was now Harry's turn to stare hard at Ginny,  
  
"Really? Did they really think so?" he questioned.  
  
"Yes, they did. And don't think their death as a loss and not worth it because it is an insult to their memory. They want to be remembered as the parents who love their child so deeply as to put his safety before their well being, and people who sacrificed themselves for the safety of others." Harry was struck dumb for a moment not knowing what to say, he continue staring at Ginny but this time, his eyes was soft with emotion, tears sparkled in his eyes like mist on green leaf.  
  
"Thank you, Ginny. Thank you for enlightening me. Thank you for giving me a hand and pulling me out of misery. I don't know what I would be without your company for the past weeks." Harry told Ginny sincerely and held her hands firmly in his.  
  
"Anytime Harry, anytime. I'm always there for you even if you don't notice it, just remember we all love you", Ginny whispered in an inaudible voice.  
  
Harry kissed her forehead and put his arm around her shoulders to express his gratitude towards her. There they sat beside each other providing comfort and assurance, and they were so comfortable with each other's company that they simply just fell asleep in that position, Harry with his arm around Ginny's shoulders and head on top of Ginny's head which had found its way onto Harry's shoulder.  
  
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Please review, I miss the reviews!!  
  
PS* I'' ve written a new HP/GW fic called "It's a long long journey", very sad but beautiful story. It may sound like the usual Harry fighting voldermort and not returning plot for the first chap but trust me, its better than that. Other chap would be better, I promise!! Please read that fic and review, the response is not too good for now.  
  
PS* My beta reader, The Backliner, is kinda busy nowadays for he need to prepare for exams. I dun wanna impose on him to beta my stuff for the time being, so, do you guys mind it I post unbeta ed chapters with grammar and spelling mistakes. If you don't then I'll just post whatever I wrote but if you mind, then I'll try to find another beta reader but it'll take some time to look for one, that means it'll be some time before I start posting.  
  
Anyone interested to be my beta reader, pls email me or simply leave a message in the review and I'll contact you. 


	16. Tonks Out To Create Trouble

Thank you; thank you for not forsaking me!! I thought many of you would think that I've given up the fic when I did not post for 3 weeks. But I was so surprised that you ppl didn't forget me, I'm so touched.  
  
Thanks hermionegreen (I think I'll pass my exam with your support)  
  
Hey The Backliner, you study hard for your upcoming exams, okay, dun worry about beta reading, a lot of ppl have kindly wanted to help u do it.  
  
Oh My God!! Is that arios, the author of The Dare and Romancing Mr Potter?? I'm so flattered that my fav author reads my fic. OMG!! Am I dreaming?? I love your story especially Romancing Mr Potter. (Do I behave like a fan that meets her idol?)  
  
Thanks for your support sarahamanda, patipati22, lily nicholee evans, kneh13, d. torres, Lourdes (thanks for offering), mep, marauders4eva, darkjadedeyes, chris, silly paulie, the one above all, arrow-card, dolphingirl79, darcy16, katani petitedra (be careful with the lollipop), guruguru214 (Oh I'm so flattered, I'm blushing), coyote/spike, me222 (I dun mind the short review), lizzy (you remind me of the lizzy in His Dark Materials), kittykid943, grip of chao/urukai (mind your lamp, and your head)  
  
This chapter is dedicated to all of you out there!!  
  
Thinking of adding me in your msn messenger? My msn add is little_noinoi@hotmail.com, hope to see you online.  
  
Scene: At the park  
  
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"Harry, Ginny, wake up"  
  
Harry felt someone shaking him; he rubbed his eyes and was suddenly aware that it's already getting dark. There was a blur figure in front of him, Harry rubbed his eyes again and saw a sweaty-looking Mark smiling at him.  
  
"What's up, Mark", Harry asked irritably.  
  
"Hey for you info, it's already five in the evening. Are you planning to camp here over the night? If you are, I'm so sorry to disturb you, but if you are not, you two better hurry home", Mark snapped back.  
  
"Oh I'm so sorry, Mark. Thanks for waking me mate!" Harry said apolitically.  
  
"Okay, no problem, pal. I better be going or my mum will be calling the police saying that her baby had been eaten alive by a trash bin, later!" Mark waved Harry goodbye and hurried down the street towards Magnolia Drive.  
  
Harry looked to his right and saw Ginny rubbing her already quite swollen eyes,  
  
"Good morning, Harry," Ginny, said thickly.  
  
"Yeah, morning, sleeping beauty", Harry answered sarcastically while smiling like a fool,  
  
"We better get going if you don't want to miss dinner," Harry stood up and dust away dirt from his jeans.  
  
"I didn't realised that its already that late, what's got over me to sleep that long." She rubbed her eyes lazily, and patted her stomach, "And dear me, my stomach is doing a demonstration", Ginny stood up and pushed Harry at his back to urge him to walk faster while he was trying his best to slower his pace.  
  
Since, Harry was stronger than Ginny although she was the strongest girl in her year, she didn't mange to push Harry any faster than a centimetre per minute. They were both trying very hard to irritate each other as they walked down the streets pushing each other when suddenly a figure walked out from behind a great oak tree; his or her face was shadowed by the shade of the tree.  
  
Out of instinct, both Harry and Ginny pulled out their wand, which was never away from them, from their pocket and posed it in front of them, ready to attack at any sign of movement.  
  
The figure gave a girly giggle and stood out of the shade, it was a young girl no older than them with dark brown curls and astonishingly baby blue eyes. Harry turned to Ginny and raised an eyebrow when the girl spoke with a voice that doesn't suit her age,  
  
"Watch it, Harry, Ginny. It's me Tonks; lower your wand before you take someone's eye out. I've known someone who had his eye shot off", Tonks teased mimicking Moody's low growl. Harry and Ginny lowered their wands and tucked then inside their pockets when Tonks spoke again,  
  
"Don't keep your wand in your pocket, it might ignite. Better wizards than you have lost their buttocks. Its elementary wand safety rule, nobody bothers about that anymore". Harry and Tonks eyed each other for a moment before bending over; laughing like some manic that would attract a lot of curious eyes. But Ginny don't find it funny, it's true accidents happened because wands backfired or ignited, she have heard some tales from her dad.  
  
Harry saw her confused look and tried to explain between uncontrollable chuckles,  
  
"As you see.* chuckles for a moment *, Tonks have kindly re enacted the scene when Moody and the lots came to fetch me from the Dursley's' last summer. Moody is forever nagging about where our wands are pointing at and where it was placed in. And I reckons he's so afraid of wand igniting because." * more chuckles but this time uncontrollable*  
  
"Because we think he is saying himself when he mentioned about better wizards who had their buttocks blasted off. It was known that Kingsley shot off his eye a few years ago when he tried to play an April's Fool prank on the old bloke who turned a bit nasty and out of fear, Kingsley accidentally did something and there we have the notorious Mad-eyed Moody. It is possible that Kingsley did aimed more than one area, he is terrible in aiming." Tonks cut him off and now Harry, Tonks and Ginny were all clenching their stomach laughing. The thought of Moody buttock-less was indeed hilarious; maybe the Weasley Twin would take up the challenge and check that out someday.  
  
After several minutes, Harry was the first to managed to hold down the urge to laugh. He opened his mouth to ask Tonks why is she doing there, but a breathless Ginny beat him to it.  
  
"To watch over you two lovey dovies, of course, under the strict order of Molly Weasley and see that you behave yourselves", Tonks teased and giggled some more that got onto Harry's nerves.  
  
"What's wrong with girls? Giggling like some chipmunks, the mere sound gives me headache", Harry thought bitterly. (A/N: No offence to girls, its just what Harry though. Besides, I'm a girl no way am I criticising us.)  
  
"Did you get acquaintance with Fred and George too much to lose your senses?" Ginny retorted, Harry turned to look at her and was astounded to see that her ears were glowing red, a warning sign, especially for a Weasley girl. Harry tried to give Tonks a warning look but she was too pleased with herself to take note of it, instead she gave a dry cough and began pacing.  
  
"As I am in duty for the past few day, no doubt, I've seen a lot, more than what you thought you knew".  
  
"Shit, how can I forget that I'm still being followed", Harry thought and he could forebode something bad coming his way, he shifted uncomfortably.  
  
"The story begins in this way, I was standing guard outside No.4 when around in the afternoon, I saw Ginny coming out of the house closely followed by Dudley. I was so surprised that I thought that the weather must have been so hot that it impaired my vision, so I rubbed my eyes and looked again. It was indeed Dudley walking beside Ginny but most interestingly, a figure came out of the house a while later and was trailing them. It was getting more interesting, he was spying outside the café when it started to rain, but that mysterious guy never left his position. That poor bloke drenched to his skin continued watching until the rain stopped and when Ginny and that elephant man came out, he continued trailing them." Tonks gave a look of triumph and stole a quick look at Harry who swallowed hard.  
  
"I could see him shivering in his wet jumper and hear his teeth chatter, and I'll like to say, that lion in front of his jumper is cute". Harry had the sudden urge to kill Tonks straight away, wiping the smirk off her heart- shaped face but the Auror hadn't the slightest idea that her life was being threatened and she continued smirking. But Harry had the feeling of his life being threatened, he could feel a pair of eyes staring at him and he turned to the direction of the source of the threat.  
  
Ginny Weasley who had gave Harry a red palm imprint on his face a few days ago was giving him the most dangerous look and he unconsciously wet his dry lips awaiting for the outburst.  
  
"HARRY JAMES POTTER, YOU BRAINLESS GIT. I NEVER KNEW THAT YOU WERE THAT THICK TO FOLLOW ME AROUND. WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM PLANNING TO DO? GO ALL- COSY WITH THAT SICK COUSIN OF YOURS. DO YOU THINK I'M THAT KIND OF SCARLET WOMAN?" Ginny shouted. Harry flinched at her shouting, very ashamed of himself, but he was determined to explain his motive,  
  
"N....No, that was never in my mind. I....I'm just worried about your safety around Dudley. It's him that I don't trust", Harry looked down at his feet. Ginny seemed to deflate instantly, all her anger gone, Harry was sick because of her, he had been protecting her in secret. Ginny felt that she had done Harry wrong, she did something that she normally wouldn't do, she apologised.  
  
Harry was so relieved to hear that word from Ginny that means she was no longer mad at him. He gave Ginny a silly looking grin and earned one in return, Tonks giggled and shifted their attention to her.  
  
"Tonks, it's not what you think it was. It was a misunderstanding, we can explain", Ginny tried to explain but was cut off by Tonks,  
  
"Looks like Kingsley's here, bye!!" at this Tonks apparated, they didn't have the chance to explain. Kingsley disapparated beside them the minute Tonks aparated,  
  
"Why the grumpy face? Cheer up!!" Kingsley said looking at Ginny and Harry's sullen face.  
  
"Heaven knows how absurd the story would be once it was re enacted by Tonks, I bet you 10 galleons that it would be she caught us kissing under the coconut tree", Ginny said unenthusiastically to Harry as they were escorted home by Kingsley.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
So how was it? This chapter is kinda dry but the next chapter would be better, I need this chapter to explain so things. Do you think that the story is going too slow? I had too many ideas, I think it would be 30 to 40 chapters by the time I finish this. Do you mind the pace or do you want it to be faster??  
  
Anyone could guess what happened next?? Surprise me!! 


	17. Howler

Hello ppl thanks for all those nice comments!! Some of them make me blush. * Wink wink *  
  
Okay here is some advertisement for my other fic, it's called "It's a Long Long Journey", pls kindly read it. It might not be as good as this but I still kind of like the plot.  
  
Let me introduce my new beta reader who had volunteered to take over The Backliner's job while he studies for his important exam------------- jujubeans (actually I dun noe his name, his email is jujubeans so I thought I'll call him jujubeans)  
  
I'll like to thank The Backliner for contributing to the Order of the Phoenix scenario. For those who wanted to view the original version, refer to my reviews for chap 16.  
  
Okay enough of advert and nonsense, here is the story of the day!! Enjoy, yum yum!!  
  
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Scene: At the Headquarter of the Order of the Phoenix  
  
Tonks was sitting in the Order of the Phoenix Headquarters. Around her, various members were staring at her, listening intently to what she was saying.  
  
"Then, Harry and Ginny sat under the tree. He put his arms around Ginny and you now what happened next?" she said. The others leaned forward eagerly.  
  
"They both fell asleep!" exclaimed Tonks, whereupon all the others fell off their chairs in exasperation. Tonks looked around, all of them had disappeared under the table except Mrs Weasley who was not too pleased to learn that Harry had got himself sick and her daughter was responsible for that. Kingsley was the first to recover; his hands appeared on the edge of the table followed by his shinny clean-shaven head,  
  
"For heaven's sake, Tonks!!" he said in exasperation. Tonks scratched her head in confusion,  
  
"What did I say wrong?"  
  
(A/N* The rest of the order thought Harry and Ginny was about to kiss, judging from the way Tonks was telling the story, she tends to add in more details here and there in the story. Kingsley and the others were exasperated that it was not what they expected. I don't know if you all could get the picture behind the scene, but me myself find it very hilarious)  
  
~*~  
  
Harry entered his bedroom after using the washroom to find that his usual pile of blankets and pillows were not on the floor. He scratched his head in puzzlement; he began looking for them all over the place closely watched by Ginny who was sitting on the edge of the bed.  
  
"You are looking for these, right?" she pointed to a lumpy pile behind her, Harry proceeded to walk over to her to get them but was stopped by Ginny,  
  
"You are not going to get them if you are going to sleep on the floor. You are to share the bed with me from tonight onwards; no one is to sleep on the floor. I never know how uncomfortable it was to sleep on the floor until two days ago, and you never say a word about it", Ginny's eyes flashed accusingly, she seemed a bit red in the face but there was a look of determination on her red face.  
  
Harry shucked his shoulders helplessly and looked at Ginny again, not knowing whether to be stubborn or suit her,  
  
"Okay, I shall sleep in the inside and you on the outside. If you want, we can sleep head to toe, I don't mind, and I swear I wouldn't attack you in your sleep", Ginny gave Harry a mischievous smile, crawled towards the inner half of the bed and laid down.  
  
Knowing that it was unwise to contradict with Ginny and a part of him invited the idea of not having to sleep on the hard floor; Harry climbed onto the bed after Ginny and layed down beside her, shoulder to shoulder. It was not really cramped with two people on a single bed, but it was kind of weird to have another person at your side, the feeling of having something warm at the side was very peculiar. As the night was chilly as all nights were, the warm feeling was not too uncomfortable to endure and all too soon, Harry and Ginny fell asleep, their breathing slow and peaceful.  
  
~*~  
  
Both Harry and Ginny were still asleep when a tapping sound could be heard on the windowpanes,  
  
"I'm coming, stop knocking on the door", Harry mumbled to himself thickly and he came around from his sleep to investigate the source of the disturbing sound. He opened his eyes and a clear vision welcomed him instead of the usual blur, he had forgotten to take off his glasses last night. It was still quite dark in the room, Harry was trying to get out of the bed when he felt something heavy and warm on his chest, he looked down and saw a thin arm resting across his chest, no doubt belonging to the redhead Weasley beside him.  
  
Harry lifted the arm gently and placed it on Ginny's side careful not to wake her, and tiptoed across the room where his own Hedwig was air-borne outside waiting to be let in. Harry threw open the window and a gush of cold wind rushed into the room together with Hedwig who had settled herself in the cage.  
  
Harry walked back to the bed hoping to catch some more sleep but Ginny had tossed in her sleep and occupied the whole bed, pillows and blankets were all scattered on the floor. Shaking his head at the Weasley girl's terrifying way of sleeping, Harry marvelled at the fact that he managed to stay on the bed until now, not kicked off the bed in the middle of the night and gathered up all the pillows and blankets laying at the foot of the bed. He went to the corner of the room where he usually slept at, made himself comfortable and fell asleep again almost instantly.  
  
~*~  
  
Harry slept on without being disturbed until a loud crash caused him to shot up into a sitting position in the bed so fast he was temporarily dizzy, movement could be heard coming from the direction of the bed, which means Ginny, was awake too.  
  
A great brown feather duster-like thing could be seen lying on Harry's desk, it was Errol and she seemed to be unconscious. Harry walked over to carry the pathetic creature to the bed when a scarlet envelope tied to its feet caught his attention. Harry tipped Errol onto the bed carelessly and hurried to untie the now smoking envelope, but before he could see to whom the Howler was addressed to, it exploded and a menacing voice could be heard ringing throughout the room rattling the window panes,  
  
"GINNY WEASLEY!! WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT? WE SENT YOU TO THE MUGGLES' IN HOPE OF YOU REPRESENTING US AND DELIVER OUR GOODWILL TO HARRY. BUT INSTEAD OF TAKING GOOD CARE OF HIM, YOU END UP MIXING WITH THAT BRAINLESS MUGGLE BOY, CAUSING HARRY TO BE WORRIED ABOUT YOU AND IN TURN CAUSE HIM TO FALL SICK. I'M ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED WITH YOUR BEHAVIOUR. YOU ARE TO PACK UP THIS INSTANT AND TAKE THE SCREW-UP DRIVER PORTKEY BACK TO THE BURROW. THE PORTKEY WOULD BE ACTIVATED AT 1.00PM AND I MUST ADD THAT YOU WOULD BE CONFINED TO YOUR ROOM FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER. ME AND YOUR FATHER ARE TERRIBLY ASHAMED OF YOUR WILDFUL BEHAVIOUR." Mrs Weasley's shouting ceased, to be replaced by Ron's voice, he was not shouting but it was clear that it's full of rage,  
  
"Ginny!! I put my best friend in the care of your hands and you made his sick. What's got into you? Is that bloody muggle pig more important than our dear old Harry? Come back and I'll settle scores with you." Ron's voice faded away and the letter in Harry's hand burst into flame, it was lucky that he had got the sense to let go of it before it caught fire or heaven knows what his hand would become.  
  
After Harry had got over the shock of the Howler, he turned to look at Ginny to see how was she coping with it. Ginny was not coping too well with the Howler, after all, the Howler was addressed to her not Harry, the more she was affected. Ginny was pale in the face and was close to tears, but too soon, big fat tears rolled down her cheek. Just as Harry was moving towards her to comfort her, Uncle Vernon's voice rang up the stairs,  
  
"WHAT THE DEVIL IS THAT HELL OF A NOISE, BOY? IF YOU AND YOUR GIRL CAN'T KEEP YOUR VOLUME DOWN, I'M GONNA LOCK YOU BOTH IN."  
  
"IT"S A HOWLER FROM HER MUM, I THINK YOU REMEMBER PERFECTLY WELL THE SCREAMING LETTER TO AUNT PERTUNIA LAST SUMMER. SHE WAS ASKING IF YOU HAD BEEN TREATING US WELL, AND IF YOU DON'T MIND, EXCUSE ME, I NEED TO REPLY TO SAY THAT WE'RE FINE OR SHE'LL HAVE THE ORDER STORM IN HERE THE NEXT MINUTE", Harry shouted at the top of his voice hoping that it would scare Uncle Vernon into leaving them alone, there was a more pressing matters in hand than silly arguments.  
  
Harry walked over the Ginny and sat beside her, he patted her head awkwardly. She was crying into her hands, Harry continued patting her head in hope to give her some comfort when she suddenly stood up and wipe away the tears fiercely with the back of her hand. Ginny marched across the room and pried open the wardrobe, she opened it too forcefully and as a result the whole pile of clothes fell out. She dragged out her trunk out and began stuffing her belongings haphazardly into it, she marched around the room collecting her belonging, occasionally muttered something like "Fine, fine, I can't stand living here anyway", "Never, I repeat never. Never am I that humiliated in my life", "It's all my fault, everything is my fault. Confined to my room for the rest of the summer, I'm looking forward to it", "You wanna settle scores, Ronald Weasley. I'll settle scores with you".  
  
Harry watched Ginny pack, not knowing what to do or say, it took her no time to finish packing and when she slammed close her trunk and proceeded to picking up the rusty screw driver portkey Mrs Weasley sent, Harry caught her arm. Ginny flung her arm backwards to free herself from Harry's clenches and accidentally hit him in his face, Harry didn't flinched a bit when Ginny's fist made contact with his cheek but instead held onto her arm tight.  
  
"Let me go, Harry Potter", Ginny hissed like an angry cat in Harry's face.  
  
"No", Harry replied stubbornly.  
  
"If you don't let go of me, I'll.......I'll........"  
  
"You'll what?" Harry whispered threatenly.  
  
"I'll......I'll......." Ginny's voice trailed and broke, she flung herself onto Harry, held onto his neck and sobbed noisily into Harry's shoulders,  
  
"Never am I that humiliated, Harry. They all blamed me, it's my entire fault, and it's my fault that you were sick, you hate me too. Mum hated me, Dad hated me, Ron hated me, and you hated me. I feel frigging terrible, Harry." Harry had not seen Ginny cry since her first year after the Basilisk incident, and it's awkward having her cry on his shoulder, Ginny who never appear weak in front of others. Harry graciously allowed Ginny to cry over his shoulders and when the crying become less urgent, he pride Ginny's arm off his neck and set her sitting on the bed beside Errol.  
  
Harry stride across the room towards the desk scribbled onto two pieces of parchment and sent them off with Hedwig, who flew to Ginny and nibbled her finger affectionately before flying off.  
  
Harry took Ginny's trunk, which was lying on the floor and stuffed it back into the wardrobe, he sat on the bed beside Ginny who was determined not to look at him, and put his arms around her in a brotherly fashion,  
  
"I do not hate you, in fact I don't know what I would become if you were not here to keep me company, most probably hiding in the room, drowning in sorrow. I'm glad you were here, I'm really glad about it. You are not going home, I've settled the matter with Mrs Weasley and Ron, and they will understand the whole situation. Everything's going to be all right. Don't cry, only babies cry", Harry teased. Ginny laughed weakly and looked into Harry's eyes, she did not know why she felt so secure just watching those brilliant eyes.  
  
"Are you sure you want me around? Do you mean it? Is everything gonna be okay?"  
  
"Yes, I mean everything I say. I'm your friend, you've got to trust me, everything's under control", Harry whispered. They sat in silence for some time until Harry's stomach growl and they both laughed.  
  
"Care for some breakfast, my lady?", Harry jumped onto his feet and offered Ginny his arm, Ginny wiped away all traces of tears with the sleeve of her pyjamas and readily accepted Harry's arm,  
  
"Of course, who can deny food? But are we going out with our pyjamas on? I've not received news that pyjamas look is the latest fashion", Ginny replied humorously, all her usual self, coming back.  
  
Everything's going to be all right, Harry promised!!  
  
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How was it? I cracked my brains like crazy to think of the plot. I'm totally obsessed there is nothing in my head except Harry and Ginny, I even dream of them. Scary!!  
  
I'll be writing everyday in hope of finishing this fic faster, but dun worry I would give u a nice end and there is like, at least 7 chapters to go at this rate. Maybe I'll write a sequel. But it all depends on the response!! 


	18. Letters to Tonks and Mrs Weasley

Hello ppl, many of must have been wondering where the heck I've been these days. I have just returned from a short holiday in Malaysia, Johore Bahru (It's not a big deal, cos it's just a neighbour country) so I've not been writing.  
  
But I have edited the previous chapter a bit so those who dun understand what I'm, trying to say. I only edited the 1st paragraph and added an A/N to it, it is to explain what I actually mean.  
  
Sorry if I made you kinda confused, but I personally love that paragraph, it was so hilarious. Here I thank The Backliner again for contributing that part and it gave me some idea to write this new chapter.  
  
Okay, I want to announce that my beta reader is called SexySlytherinChick instead of jujubeans (I got screamed at by her for calling her jujubeans)  
  
Oh and I saw what you said, The Backliner, I agree, a romance story shouldn't have too much humour. But I just can't resist humour, could I put a bit of humour in Tonks and Ron, please?? Harry is still the gloomy boy.  
  
Anyway, here is the chapter of the week!! Enjoy!! This is another poor attempt in writing a chapter, the next chap would be better!!  
  
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Scene: At the Grimmauld Place  
  
" To, not dear Nymphadora Tonks,  
  
I have no idea what you told Mrs Weasley and Ron to make them so upset and angry, but you have to know that whatever you said had caused them to go bonkers and they were very angry at Ginny. Mrs Weasley had sent a Howler demanding that Ginny go back immediately, she is very upset by the Howler but she is not going back, I'm not letting her go back and face whatever is waiting for her at the burrow alone.  
  
My purpose of writing this letter is not to inform you that I'm making Ginny stay but want you to persuade the Weasley's that Ginny must stay and no punishment is to be given to her. I don't care what you do to make them not blame Ginny and let her stay, you can say that you were under the Imperious Curse or being threatened by Deatheaters, I have no objections to that.  
  
Treat this letter as a Howler for that's what I want to send you, but because I'm not allowed to use magic outside school, I'm letting you off with this death threat letter. If you could not manage to appease the Weasley's and that Ginny is going to be forced home, I'll make sure Hagrid sent some "cute and lovely" pets of his straight to you and I myself is going to sent you something "fun" from the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  
  
DO NOT THINK THAT I'M JOKING!!  
  
Without love/ not yours/Unsincerely, Harry James Potter  
  
PS I think you have a clear idea what kind of pets Hagrid usually keeps and the kind of stuff that comes from the twins.  
  
PPS Yes, this is a death threat!! "  
  
~*~  
  
Mundungus finished reading the letter aloud to the rest of the order and turned to look across the dining table at Tonks who looked as if she had got terrible sunstroke. Lupin put his arm across her shoulder sympathetically, the moment Lupin touched her, and she jumped from her seat as if been electrocuted and race out of the room.  
  
The rest of the order with Lupin taking the lead, followed her out of the room to the living room in time to witness Tonks throwing the whole pot of flu powder into the fireplace, stuck her whole head into it, shouting 'The Burrow' frantically.  
  
(A/N: Tonks might be an Auror but she was kinda afraid of the animals that Harry threatened that Hagrid might send and the tricks the twin might come up with. Who isn't afraid when Hagrid and the Weasley twin is involved? Look at Umbridge, she is a member of the Ministry and yet she could do nothing about the swamps and fireworks. And remember the Blast-End Skewts? Tonks might have heard a thing or two about Hagrid's unusual "hobby".)  
  
~*~  
  
Mrs Weasley was pacing in the kitchen, glancing at the clock occasionally and Ron was taking his potions that occupied almost half of the dining table.  
  
"She should have reached by now. The portkey activates at exactly one, and it's one-twenty now. She wouldn't dare to defy me and not return. Oh, would something happen to her? Maybe Deatheaters have got Harry and Ginny. Maybe she got transported to somewhere else and was lost. Or, maybe the portkey was tampered with like what happened to Harry in his fourth year and now, she was in the hands of you-know-who and maybe, Harry too. Oh, my baby girl, my dear boy!!" Mrs Weasley was in the verge of tears.  
  
"Don't worry mum, nothing would have happened to them. See the clock, Harry and Ginny was still at the 'Visiting' position, they are not at 'Lost' or at 'Mortal Peril'. I think the portkey must have lost track of time or malfunctioned, Hedwig must be on the way to here. Don't worry mum, they'll be fine", Ron said while trying to measure out the potion but instead of pouring them into the goblet, he missed and spilled them all over the table for his eyes was fixed at the clock.  
  
"One twenty-five....., one twenty-six......, one twenty-seven....", Ron counted, he was convincing his mum not to worry but in his heart, he as frantic as ants on fire. His eyes switched from the normal clock's face to his mum's extraordinary clock all the while,  
  
"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny, where the hell are you now? I swear that if you come back in one piece, I'll not scream at you. Please, please, just come back home, safely", Ron chanted softly to himself.  
  
Time flies and soon, the clock stroked two, both Mrs Weasley and Ron almost jumped out of their skin when the clock chimed. Ron stood up suddenly knocking the chair over, sprinted to the clock with the Weasley's picture in its hands and shook it violently causing the pictures to squeak in fright. Mrs Weasley pulled him away from the clock and screamed at him for frightening it.  
  
A hoot coming from the window's direction attracted their attention; Mrs Weasley stopped screaming and both of them dashed to the window. Being younger and more flexible than Mrs Weasley, Ron reached the snowy owl first, untied the letter from its leg and read the letter aloud.  
  
"Dear Mrs Weasley and Ron,  
  
I want to inform you that Ginny is not going back so please don't worry. It's not Ginny's idea, it's mine. I'm the one who stopped her from going home, I'm so sorry please forgive me.  
  
It's not Ginny's fault that I'm sick, I'm the one who made her so mad at me that she stormed out of the house. In fact, if not for Ginny, I might have got lung infections by now; she is the one who forsake nights of sleep to nurse me back to health.  
  
It's too long a story to explain through letters, I'll explain and apologise when we meet at the station on the 1st. Mrs Weasley, please don't make Ginny go back, she's the one who kept me sane all these while, please don't take her away. I promise I'll take good care of her, I'll put her safety before mine, just let her stay with me.  
  
Once again, I'm so sorry to defy your orders. I have to go and comfort Ginny now; she's crying her eyes out. Bye and have a nice summer!!  
  
Love, Harry and Ginny  
  
PS How are you now, Ron? Feeling better? Rest more and see you on the 1st.  
  
PPS Stop being a prat, Ron. It's not Ginny's fault, stop blaming her. If you still want to settle scores, look for Harry Potter.  
  
PPS Please don't be angry with Ginny anymore, Mrs Weasley."  
  
~*~  
  
Mrs Weasley heaved a sigh of relieve, write back a reply to Harry and sent Hedwig away. She smiled to herself and went back to the kitchen to prepare lunch followed by Ron who still needed to take his potions. Ron drank the potions in the goblet he had poured out for himself in a single gulp and pass out instantly on the table with a loud thud.  
  
Mrs Weasley rushed to him and after a futile attempt to wake him, she examined the potion bottles on the table to find that instead of adding a teaspoon of the blood red coloured Scar Lightening Potion, Ron had almost emptied the whole bottle of the Mrs Weasley's purplish red coloured Sleeping Draught into his potion mixture.  
  
As Mrs Weasley was about to levitate Ron back to his room, she heard someone shouting for her at the fireplace.  
  
So how was it? Good enough? The next chapter would be on Harry and Mark!! Oh, I'm so sorry if the story kinda lack of romance, but I wanna tell the story about Harry and Ginny. It's friendship first before the romance comes in, or maybe there isn't any romance as in Harry tells Ginny that he likes her. All steady relationship comes slow; it builds up day by day.  
  
I like the cute and innocent relationship between them, if you expect them to French kiss all that gross stuff, I'm sorry to tell you that I hate it and would never put them into the fic. I'm sorry to say my fic is a bit odd cos I'm an oddball. 


	19. Flirty Waitress and Mark

Now, time for acknowledging my lovely reviewers:  
  
#coco butter ( yes, I did post on darkmark but I was "azkabaned = banned" for something I said. Bother, they closed my post!! The attention I get there was not really good so I think I'll not bother updating the story there. Read my fic on here instead, coco butter!! And the moderators at DM are kinda too 'one kind', and I dun wanna post there anymore!! Thank you for following me all the way to here, since you are already here, then stay!!)  
  
#silvercrystal77 (as for what would happen when Tonks show up at the burrow, I leave it to ur imagination. I dun wanna be too long winded and explain everything, so I skip that part. As for the kids meeting up in Diagon Alley, I'll see how I'll progress to there.)  
  
#kittykid943 (thanks u understand why I dun put in kissing, my fic is the sweet and cute type so, kissing is not appropriate. I'm glad u like Ron's character, he's portrayed like me, I always scream at my siblings but deep inside I'm looking out for them)  
  
#Darcy16 (I agree a kiss or two wouldn't hurt but NO snogging as u Brits put it)  
  
# patipati22 (Is it too fast? OH, I tot the story is going too slowly that's why I fast forward it. Okay, I try not to be so impatient and move the scene slower the next time. AS for Harry sounding too in love with Ginny in the letter, that's want I wanted to express. He cares a lot for Ginny deep inside but he is not aware of it, I like the feeling of him protecting Ginny. And for longer chapters, sometimes when my stupid brain says, "That it, end of chap!!" there is nothing I can do to it. I tried threatening it but It just have a mind of it's own. As for grammatical errors, it's not in my contract, it's my beta reader's job. Sorry!! I'll try to improve everything!! )  
  
#Me222 (so happy that u agree with me)  
  
#dementorchic (the way u r praising me, I'm blushing!!)  
  
#The Backliner ( Hey, my ex- beta reader, when r u coming back to me?? I miss u!! * smooch smooch * Good luck for ur exams)  
  
#Butler (I'm a huge HP/GW shipper too. I never read HP/other ships, they gross me out!! Harry belong to ginny and no other. If I'm volde, I'll kill all the gals who had ideas on Harry!!)  
  
#REALbluelightsaber (I'm not really having them in a relationship, but maybe I'll. But even in a relationship they dun have to kiss, even that tot gross me out!! One can love in an innocent way!! That's my ideal relationship so I'm keeping them in my fic!! But maybe it doesn't work that way, I dun know, I never go into relationship before. What do u mean by an good old American gal sounding british? I'm not an American nor am I a british, though I wish I'm one. I think u should say, a good old easterner Chinese sounding western!! That sounds better!!) #angelbreathe #katani Petitedra #Jennifer #phoenix #Mep #dolphingirl97 #The One Above All #desiree #TheMystic #Draco-FutureBF #Grip of Chaos(urukai aka Michael #rhinemjr #Lord Master Omega #laser #HarryGryffinGirl #Raven #Dragonhp1116 aka arwen #nymphadora003  
  
(I NEVER SEE HERMIONEGREEN REVIEWING NOWADAYS!! WHERE R U, GAL?? ALRITE THERE?? I'M WORRIED ABOUT U!!)  
  
**sorry if I missed out some of u who reviewed in chap17, I planned to acknowledge all of u til chap 17 but chap 18 is already that much. I didn't acknowledge doesn't mean I dun care. Love u ppl, u make my day!!)  
  
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At the Dursleys' kitchen:  
  
Harry and Ginny sat at one end of the dining table with Dudley and Aunt Pertunia at the other end, having breakfast.  
  
Harry was eating his breakfast with relish but Ginny was prodding the eggs, causing the yolk to break and a yellow messy gooey substance was spreading out on the plate.  
  
"Eww, what's that mess for?" Harry said eyeing Ginny's plate with disgust. Ginny looked down at her plate unconcernedly and continued stabbing at her breakfast.  
  
"Are you not feeling well? What is it that is making you uncomfortable? Your head? Stomach? Legs?" Harry put down his cutlery and feel Ginny's forehead but she pulled his hands off her impatiently, shook her head and continued staring at her plate.  
  
Harry could not figure out what's wrong with her for a second when it suddenly hit him. He moved closer to her and covered her small delicate hands with his big rough ones,  
  
"I know what you are worrying about. I've explained to Mrs Weasley and Ron, they'll understand the whole situation. They would not put the blame on you and force you home." At this, Ginny lifted her head to look at Harry,  
  
"Are you sure? They are stubborn when it comes to that sort of matter. If they insist that it's my fault, nothing could change it. It doesn't matter to me if I am to be set straight back home and confined to my room for the rest of the summer, but I don't want them to misunderstand me", Ginny said in an almost inaudible whisper.  
  
Dudley was eavesdropping on their conversation from the other end of the table all the while and at that moment, he broke out,  
  
"Who's taking you away, Ginny? They'll have me to deal with. I'll give them a left hook and a scissors chop, and have them begging for mercy before they touch you", he attempted a feeble imitation of a karate chop on the table and upset his glass of low-fat milk, earning him some disapproving tut-tut sounds from his mum when the spilled milk dripped onto her sparkling clean marble floor.  
  
Harry and Ginny rolled their eyes at Dudley and continued eating; leaving Dudley to his own muttering of what he would want to do to those people who tried to upset Ginny.  
  
If only he knew that the army of people he wanted to deal with was Ginny's six elder brothers; one who dealt with dragons; another who knew more curses, spells and hexes than normal people; one who wasn't too deadly but could bore one to death with his speech on abiding rules; two identical faces who would come up with the nastiest prank imaginable and another, who was the most stubborn prat alive who used his mouth more than his brains. Not to mention her father, who was the most patient and fatherly person Harry knew, but his obsession of muggle artefacts endangered lives. And last of all, her notorious mother, who the rest of the Weasley clan feared, Dudley would be begging for mercy faster than he could say "Chop".  
  
~*~  
  
Harry and Ginny walked out of the living room a while later, leaving Dudley with Aunt Pertunia as he tried to impress the tablecloth instead.  
  
"Did you see his piggy face? Who's he trying to kid?" Ginny said in between chuckle, "They'll have me to deal with", she finished with a very impressive pig-like grunt that had Harry doubling over with laugher.  
  
"He'll most probably wet himself shouting for his mummy if he sees them standing in a queue outside the door", Ginny said, "I'm capable enough to look after myself"  
  
Harry suddenly saw Ginny in a new light; she's funny, independent, a little mischievous but fun to be with. Harry had always thought of her as a shy, clumsy girl who couldn't string two words in front of him, but how wrong he had been!! She's not boring; in fact, she's a fantastic person.  
  
He didn't realise that he'd been staring at her for the past minute and only when Ginny cleared her throat to catch his attention then he returned to reality.  
  
"Why are you looking at me as if I've sprouted an extra head or something? Do I have some dirt on my face or what?" Ginny said, while wiping her face with the sleeves of her blouse.  
  
"No, it's.. it's just that. I just realised that you're so funny, I always thought you as shy", Harry blurted out and blushed lightly when he realised what he had said.  
  
"I'm not funny. I've not got bunny ears or anything weird but I'm fun to be with, I think that's what you mean", she said with an air of dignity, "It's your loss you never realised that till now, Mr Potter. And it took you four years, for goodness sake. Oh, am I that unpredictable?" Ginny pouted and muttered something like sticking with Ron too much made him as insensible as him.  
  
"Yeah, you are. One minute you are the girl who puts her elbows in the butter dish, sending me a singing Valentine's day card and the next minute, you are the girl who isn't afraid to confront me when everyone else avoids me", Harry teased and Ginny turned a light shade of pink for being reminded how silly she had been in her first year but she recovered in no time and smacked Harry hard at the back of his head.  
  
"Aw.. Why did you do that for?", Harry explained while rubbing his head, messing up his hair in the process.  
  
"Listen hard, Harry Potter. I'm not the one who sent you the silly Valentine's Day card; it was Fred and George. Didn't you ever wonder why they were able to tease you with the poem when they were not there at the scene to hear it, you thick-headed idiot", Ginny shook her head and rolled her eyes dramatically, "but, it was quite amusing, I dare say. As for the * cough cough * butter dish incident, I thought no one saw it, but never mind....it was....it was just an accident..yeah, an accident", she finished lamely, earning a raised eyebrow from Harry.  
  
"And.....and yeah, the poem they composed was lousy, wasn't it? I could do better ones....", she tried to change the topic, but Harry wasn't looking too convinced, "If you don't believe me, try me." Ginny started pacing in front of Harry with her hands behind her, trying to compose something.  
  
Suddenly, she stopped pacing, lifted her head high and started reciting,  
  
"His eyes are as green as the greenest pea. His hair is as dark as the garbage bag. He wears specs and has got messy hair. He's no other than Harry Potter." She finished and looked at Harry in search of any praise coming her way. Harry suppressed his laughter into coughing fits and meekly nodded his head.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Harry and Ginny were chatting happily in the park sitting on the swing when Ginny's stomach groaned.  
  
"Looks like the signal for lunch has gone off" Harry laughed good- heartedly. Ginny blushed a bit at the remark. "Come on, lass. Let's go try out this little café two streets down", he said enthusiastically, pulling Ginny away from the swing.  
  
"That one looks expensive, why don't we just go to the usual one?" she asked.  
  
"No, I want to bring you to that café. They've get real nice ice creams, I hear. I know you'll like them." Harry said while practically dragging Ginny down two streets before shoving her into the café.  
  
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Ginny looked at the fanciful menu and swallowed hard, the dishes were really expensive. They could have two meals at the café they usually went to for the price of one meal here. She knew the conversion, the cheapest dish cost about twenty-seven sickles. She looked over the top of her menu at Harry who was still studying the menu and he caught her eye,  
  
"Go on, order what you like. Hm.. the steak looks delicious. The fish isn't too bad either. What do you plan to have, Ginny?", Harry said. She looked at the pretty young waitress who had her skirt a few inches above her knees, and was eyeing Harry with interest and cleared her throat to get her attention,  
  
"I'll have spaghetti, thank you."  
  
"Any dessert for you? Or drinks?", she asked in a sweet voice, hardly taking her eyes off Harry who was still studying the menu.  
  
"A glass of ice water will do. Thank you" and Harry suddenly looked up.  
  
"No desserts? You sure?" he asked while frowning and she shook her head. Harry stared hard at her very a few seconds before picking up his menu again,  
  
"No, you don't. Cancel what she ordered, give me two fish, a juice for me and a chocolate boat for this lady, please, thanks!" he handed the menu back to the waitress; she covered her mouth, gave a giggle and walked away.  
  
She was pretty irritated with the giggly waitress but her annoyance got the better of her,  
  
"What was that for?" she demanded irritably.  
  
"What was what for?" Harry feigned ignorance.  
  
"Why did you change my order?"  
  
"Oh, that. I'm the one footing the bill, so isn't it right for me to do the ordering?", Harry said casually. Ginny blushed a little before retorting,  
  
"I've got muggle money with me; I can pay for myself!"  
  
"I thought we had come to an agreement that all expenses would be borne by me", Harry tried to say in the most casual way possible. Ginny blushed some more and kept quiet throughout the main dish.  
  
When dessert came, Ginny's eye brightened a bit, Harry saw it all in her eyes and he smiled to himself. The waitress kept on coming back to their table to refill their water, Harry flashed her his famous Harry-Potter- breathe-taking smile every time she came and she would walk away giggling. The waitress was grating on Ginny's nerves so much that she had to exercise a lot of self-control not to hex her into next week. She rolled her eyes dramatically every time she came near them, and Harry kept on having coughing fits trying not to laugh out loud.  
  
After they had finished their lunch, Harry footed the bill and the waitress escorted them all the way to the door, not before introducing herself as Mary and gave him a several numbers written on a paper napkin, which he politely accepted and pocket.  
  
Ginny felt lousy for no reason, she was in the worst mood imaginable. She been kicking fallen leaves on the ground, all the way to the park and Harry was casting funny looks at her.  
  
"Who made our Weasley Cannon angry? He or she's dead for sure." Harry tried to joke but earned a murderous look from her and he kept his mouth shut, not wanting to get a slap from her again. It's hard to imagine a thin and frail girl like her could be that strong, Harry's face stung like hell for a few days after she hit him, and he took care not to be the receiving end of her temper again.  
  
Ginny kept fuming and pouting until she flopped down next to Harry under the same tree they sat the previous day,  
  
"That waitress was so irritating; she eyed you like a lollipop that she wanted to swallow whole. It's disgusting you know and you've been smiling at her like the guy in the toothpaste advertisement. I'm witnessing all that, do you know? I think I'm going to have nightmares where you are a lollipop flashing straight, white teeth waiting to be devoured by a girl wearing a super short skirt with lots of colour on her face", there was a tone of resentment in her words.  
  
"What you think I am, some scarlet man who falls for girl with short skirt? She's not my type; I like the traditional type of girl whose skirt falls past her knees. I can't stand girls who show too much. Hmm.... I like girls like you", Harry said casually. Ginny knew that Harry didn't mean anything by making reference to her but she still liked the idea that she was his type.  
  
Ginny leaned back onto the bark of the tree relishing over the things Harry had said when she spotted Mark sitting alone on the grass at the far end of the field. She jumped up and down on the spot trying to get his attention and motioned him to come and join them.  
  
Mark came over and settled down in between Harry and Ginny, the three of them were silent, each engrossed in their own thoughts until Hedwig's sudden appearance roused them.  
  
"I've seen that kind of pigeon before", Mark said monotonously. Harry quickly untied the letter from Hedwig's leg before Mark noticed and shooed her away, earning a hit around the head from her. He cast a dark look at Ginny who returned him the same look, and they were looking at each other waiting for Mark to say something about owls.  
  
"One of that kind of pigeon came to my house this morning, scaring the wits out of my mum", he said and stopped. Harry and Ginny nodded to each other to indicate that they knew what was coming and waited patiently for Mark to continue what he left hanging.  
  
"Er.... Do you believe in witches and wizards, Harry? Ginny?", he started awkwardly.  
  
"Of course we do. Witches and wizards are people with magic skills, but they are hidden very well so we don't know of their existence", Harry tried to explain in the simplest way possible, for he didn't want to sound too knowledgeable or Mark would suspect something. Harry thought that Mark would never imagine that he'd been associating with a witch and wizard all summer but his heart told him that what he suspected was right, Mark might be a muggle born wizard.  
  
"Can I trust you two with a big secret? I don't know why but I feel that I could trust you, that's why I've been waiting for you down here the whole morning. My heart tells me to trust you completely, not to hide anything from you but I need you to swear that you would not repeat our conversation today to any other. Could you do that?", Mark asked.  
  
He sounds sincere and the helplessness in his tone made their heart go to him and they agreed,  
  
"I received a letter delivered from a pigeon this morning, and that's the start of the whole business. I know you two must be puzzled about the whole pigeon delivering letters matters but what I'm going to tell you is weirder", Ginny and Harry listened patiently.  
  
"The letter said... It said.... that I'm a wizard", Mark chose his word carefully and after saying the word out, he looked at Harry and Ginny to look for any sign of laugher or fear but he could only find then smiling good-naturedly at him as if inviting him to carry on.  
  
"I thought it was a bad joke at first but I knew in my heart that it wasn't. I'm supposed to start school at the wizarding school named Hogwarts on September", Mark looked dejected and looked to the ground.  
  
"So what's stopping you? I myself believe a lot in magic because there are a lot of things in earth that does not have an explanation behind it. If you can be a wizard, why are you still unsure about? Do you want to go?", Harry said.  
  
"Yeah, Harry's right. I don't think it's a joke Mark, you should go for it. Or is it that you don't want to go, you don't want to be a wizard and study magic?" Ginny had sounded too knowledgeable, it was real suspicious but Mark was too confused to take note of it.  
  
"Of course I want to go. My mum and Dad isn't too reluctant about it, they told me that the decision lies on me. I told them I want to but there is another problem", Mark said unhappily.  
  
"Then go for it, Mark. Don't let the idea of being a wizard makes others think that you are a freak get you down. Go for what your heart desires like when it told you to trust us. Always listen to your heart, it never betrays you.", Harry said knowledgably, he had gone through that kind of internal struggle when he first knew that he's a wizard and so he could understand how Mark feels now.  
  
"I'm going to heed my heart and I don't give a damn about what others may think, but the school fees are expensive. The special things I need to get for school and all need money, but we can't afford that. My mum and dad are devastated that they can't provide enough money for me to go to school. I'm so confused; I really wanted to go but I can't. I think I'm not going and I need to tell the school that but I don't know how to communicate with the school. What can I do?" Harry and Ginny nodded to each other communicating in a way only they could understand.  
  
Harry put his hand onto Mark's shoulder and squeezed it gently,  
  
"Don't worry, Mark. As long as there's life, there's hope! Don't think of giving up now, have faith! Don't let the matter get onto you, the problem would be solved in it's own way. If worst come to worst, we'll think of ways to communicate with the school. Don't be too dejected, my lad. Feel free to come to us if there's anything."  
  
Mark felt as if the load on his shoulders were all lifted off him, he gave a huge sigh of relieve and smiled. Harry and Ginny both smiled at each other before giving the boy a reassuring hug, with he returned gladly.  
  
"Okay, I'm fine now. Thanks for lending me a listening ear, I feel better now. Thanks, I really appreciate your presence." Mark stood up and brushed his jeans, "I need to go now, my mum's a bit jumpy today, I need to get home early or she'll thought I've been kidnapped by some pigeons or sparrow and die of a heart attack. Bye, Harry, bye Ginny, see you around." Mark waved them goodbye and skipped down the road, his footsteps light and carefree.  
  
"We need to plan something tonight, Ginny." Harry said as they watched him disappear around the corner.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ How was it?? Still good enough?? This is the longest chapter I've ever written, don't tell me it's still short. If you tell me this again, I think I'll go kill myself. Please don t make me.  
  
I'm going to drag this on, that means more adventures before the romance come in!!  
  
Okay, advertisement time!!  
  
READ OTHER FICS BY ME!! It's a Long Long Journey ~ by ahbahh He & She ~ by ahbahh Madam Ginny Butterfly ~ by ahbahh 


	20. Ginny, a tremptress? Title Contributed b...

Thank you for your support for me!! I really appreciate your every review, pls keep up the reviews and I'll do my job!!  
  
An announcement, our ex beta reader, The Back liner is back for the job, let's give him a round of applause!!  
  
Okay, I realized that my story is kinda getting boring; it stays on the same spot for 20 chapters. Please bear with me for a few more chapters and I'll move the plot to somewhere else. Meanwhile, give me lots of support and I'll give you a very nice TWIST!! Tango!! I like twists!!  
  
Here is the story of the day, and look out for my coming twist!!  
  
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Scene: At Privet Drive  
  
After dinner, instead of going over to Mrs. Figg's house to catch a show or two on the television before bed, Harry and Ginny retreated into their bedroom right after the meal. Ginny had returned from a shower and it was now Harry's turn. He dug into all his pockets to empty them and retrieved two pieces of paper from one of them.  
  
"Oh, I've almost forgotten about it", Harry exclaimed as he uncreased a piece of paper on his desk. Ginny turned to look at him and eyed the paper he was holding with distaste.  
  
"Oh, I thought what important paper is that. Isn't that the paper the "I'm- hitting-on-you-Harry-Potter" waitress gave you? Oh, if I remembered correctly, she gave you a series of numbers that is supposed to be her fellytone number, am I right? What's more important than that?" Ginny said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes.  
  
Erm.. Ginny, it's a telephone number, not a fellytone number and no, its not her telephone that I'm referring to, it's the reply from Mrs. Weasley I received this afternoon in the park. Did you remember or do you only remember what goes on with the nice waitress whom you just don't seem to like?" Harry teased; he liked teasing her, watching her turn red in a few seconds, which she did.  
  
"Hem.... Hem..... What did mum say in the letter?" she chose to ignore Harry's remark about her unfriendliness towards the waitress.  
  
"Here's the letter, you see for yourself, I'm going to catch the bathroom before Dudley does and take the whole hour inside doing god-knows-what", Harry handed the parchment to Ginny, deposited the other piece of paper into the rubbish bin (he made sure Ginny saw that) and headed out of the room. Ginny gave an evil smirk thinking of the piece of paper lying in the rubbish bin; suddenly it burst into flames and burnt into ashes.  
  
Ginny read the letter her mum sent (her mum and Ron apologized for taking it out on her and told her to enjoy the rest of the summer with Harry) and thinking of the blackened paper in the rubbish bin, her mood had improved tremendously by the time Harry returned from the shower smelling like - Harry after a bath.  
  
Ginny climbed onto the single bed in the room, later followed by Harry. Ginny beat the only pillow into shape and laid her fiery red head on it, leaving a space for Harry.  
  
Harry put his hand behind his head staring at the white ceiling and Ginny was lying on her side facing Harry. It was a bit cramped on the bed but they were quite comfortable.  
  
'I couldn't believe Mark's a wizard, it was a surprise. Bet he couldn't believe it either, that boy", Ginny said.  
  
"Yes, a surprise, and a very nice surprise mind you. He's a wizard and we could be together in Hogwarts, I always liked him, he's so funny and nice. In this way, we could get to know each other better, isn't it nice", Harry answered.  
  
"Yeah, I liked him too, his craftiness and babbly self reminds me of the twins. I wonder how he would react when he got to know that he had befriended a witch and a wizard all this time. Do you think we should tell him and the most critical matter is that how are we going to help him? Our family can't really afford to provide anything.", Ginny trailed off and looked away; she, like Ron, was a bit sensitive about their family's poverty.  
  
"We can help him rise funds and gather some second hand school books and school stuff from friends. Maybe we could talk to Dumbledore about school fees", before Harry could finish his sentence, Ginny had jumped down off the bed and headed to the desk, grabbing parchments, quills and scribbled away. Harry jumped off the bed after her and read what she was writing over her shoulders. He understood what she was doing and he grabbed a quill, more parchments and joined her in the scribbling frenzy.  
  
It took them an hour before twenty letters lay in front of them; they felt a weird satisfaction in them, seeing their fruits of labour. Harry rolled up each of the parchment and gathered them over to Hedwig's cage. Upon seeing Harry approaching, Hedwig turned to the other direction, her back facing him, her head held high.  
  
"Come on, Hedwig. I wasn't on purposely being mean this afternoon but in that kind of situation, I wasn't thinking properly. Good girl, come on, I need you to deliver the letters urgently, please", Harry turned to look at Hedwig at the other side but she turned to another side. Ginny upon seeing Hedwig hostility towards Harry walked over and shoves Harry aside.  
  
"You great prat, hurting poor Hedwig", at this, the white bird turned to look at Ginny curiously; "Hedwig is a nice girl, isn't she? We got some letters that we need you to deliver immediately, could you help?" Ginny cooed and tickled Hedwig at her chest.  
  
To Harry's surprise, Hedwig gave a small hoot and held out her leg in front Ginny and she quickly tied the parchments onto Hedwig's leg and sent her flying out of the window into the night. Ginny turned away from the window, a smirk plastered on her face and jumped onto bed again. Harry joined her a while later muttering about how Hedwig's his owl and she listens to Ginny alone under his breathe. He rattered on about Hedwig's ungratefulness until both he and Ginny fell asleep.  
  
A loud tapping at the window in the morning woke the whole house. Harry snapped open his eyes to see Hedwig tapping continuously on the window indicating that she wanted to be let in. As he hurried over to let her in, uncle Vernon's voice rang through the whole house.  
  
"POTTER... HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU TO SHUT YOUR BLOODY PIGEON UP? ONE MORE TIME, I'LL BREAK YOUR GIRL, YOUR BIRD, AND YOUR NECK."  
  
After letting Hedwig in, Harry strode to the door to shout something back but Ginny had beaten him to it. She stormed across the room; wretched open the door, stuck her head out of the room and yelled at the top of her voice, her voice sharp and shrill.  
  
"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP.... BEFORE YOU TOUCH OUR NECK, WE WOULD HAVE SHOVED OUR WAND UP YOUR ASS... ONE MORE WORD, DURSLEY, I'LL MAKE SURE I STICK YOUR FAT LIPS TOGETHER WITH A PERMENANT CHARM, AND DON'T TEST MY PATIENCE BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ANY..." After shouting herself hoarse at uncle Vernon, Ginny slammed the door shut, jumped back onto bed and pulled the blanket up to her head, leaving the clothes hanging on the door, swaying dangerously.  
  
Harry's heart was pumping loudly against his chest, "Uncle Vernon's bound to come and wrangle our neck", he thought and stood transfixed at his position, not daring to breathe too loudly, waiting for Uncle to storm into the room but it didn't happen. A few minutes passed before Harry was sure that their necks were safe than he dared to move.  
  
Harry tiptoed over to Hedwig, not daring to make a single noise with his feet, in case Ginny was disturbed and start shouting and throwing stuff at him. He unloaded twenty rolled up parchments from Hedwig who gave him a grateful nibble at his finger and flew to her cage to rest after a speedy journey throughout the whole night. Harry emptied a packet of owl feed into her bowl and patted her on the head affectionately hoping to get back to her good side before sitting down at his desk to read his letters.  
  
"So, what did they say?" a voice said, scaring Harry out of his wits, making him knock over his chair. He turned behind to see Ginny tousled haired, sitting up on the bed, chuckling.  
  
'If you want me dead, choose better ways. Just give me a word and I'll jump straight out of the window but never try to scare me. I'll die of a heart attack, and that way to dying is worst than having a hundred Crucio Curses thrown at you", Harry said sarcastically while holding his heart. Ginny chuckled louder and he continues,  
  
"I thought you were still sleeping?"  
  
"Nope, that loudspeaker uncle of yours woke me up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I'll just be annoyed waiting for you to finish reading the letters and tell me what they say", Ginny said, throwing the blanket off herself and strolled over to the desk.  
  
Harry picked up the chair from the floor and sat on it, Ginny sat at the corner of the desk, bending over to have a better look at the letters. As Ginny was wearing a quite short nightgown and she wasn't sitting in a very elegant way, a good part of her legs was exposed. Harry saw that and turned a bit pink, shaking his head mentally at how unladylike Ginny was, and no doubt she was quite a temptress and continued reading the letters.  
  
Only after reading through two letters did Ginny realize that her skirt was pulled up a bit. She blushed beetroot red, tugged at her skirt with as little movement as possible, eyeing at Harry all the while making sure he didn't see her pulling at her skirt. Little did she know that Harry was aware of that and was laughing at her silently.  
  
"So how are we going to send all those stuff over to Mark without causing too much suspicious on us?" Ginny asked after finishing reading the last letter. Harry folded his arms at his chest and turned to face Ginny,  
  
"I think we could form a secret group of some sort, and send over the stuff to Mark using owl post, claiming that we are from some wizard society helping the needy."  
  
"That'll be fine, I think. But what should we name our organization, we can't name it Ginny and Harry Society, can we?" Ginny asked.  
  
"Hmmm.... Ginny and Harry Society", Harry appeared to be thinking hard, "not a bad idea.." Ginny punched Harry's shoulder and said,  
  
"Come on, I'm serious. I mean, we wouldn't want Mark to know that we are behind the whole thing."  
  
"Okay, okay I'm joking, don't hit me again. We could ponder over that over breakfast or rather, brunch, judging from the time now. We can't possibly join them downstairs for breakfast with that outbreak this morning, can we? Come on, wash up and we'll go for brunch at the café. Quick, quick, go wash up, I can't wait to see the "I'm - hitting -on- you Harry-Potter "waitress. Hurry up, will you?" Harry had to hold back laughter while pushed Ginny out of the room knowing perfectly well that he had made her mad. He just liked to make Ginny mad.  
  
Harry laid back onto the bed, smiling happily to himself, waiting for Ginny to return from her shower. He suddenly realized that he was always happy nowadays. Wasn't he? Yes, he was, being around Ginny made him a happier person, his temper not always on the surface anymore.  
  
"Hmmm.... I wonder what would I became, cooped up in his house without any friendly human company, at the end of his summer if Ginny hadn't came over. Maybe, Dumbledore would have to send me straight to St. Mungos, I would have gone mad, no doubt. Cheers to Ginny for keeping my sanity intact", Harry thought still smiling.  
  
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The End!! TBC 


	21. Old Feelings

Hello, it's not the end!! It's the end of the chapter, but to be continued!! Sorry if I scared many of u to death. Sorry, I didn't realize that I'll cause such a misunderstanding!! Okay take note that I'm going to add in a twist!! Maybe an evil cliff hanger or two but I never got the hang of writing real nasty cliff hanger. Is that good news or bad? No idea, just enjoy my story!!  
  
Okay, this chapter is dedicated to all my beloved readers who flipped off their chair by my 'The End' at the last chapter!!  
  
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Scene: In Harry's room  
  
Ginny woke up to find the sun up and shining brightly in the clear blue morning sky. It's the first time in the whole summer she's up earlier than Harry. Usually it's Harry who was an early riser probably due to habit developed from the first eleven year of his life living with the Dursleys. But at the moment, he's still asleep, snoring lightly with his mouth slightly open, beside Ginny, on the single bed.  
  
Ginny detangled herself from the blankets and a stray arm that belonged to Harry, and sat up on the bed careful not to make too much noise. As she used her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sunrays shining in from the open window without any curtains, she wondered what had woken her up and suddenly remembered that today was the last day they were going to spend in this house. They were going back to the burrow to spend the last night of the holiday there (with Dumbledore's approval after Mrs Weasley harassed him about it for the whole summer about it) and return to Hogwarts early in the morning tomorrow.  
  
"How could I forget it? Last day with the dreadful muggles, isn't that great? And with a secret party planned for Harry tonight, I almost couldn't sleep last night. Hope Harry doesn't suspect anything amiss by my anticipation going on for the last few days", Ginny thought and at the thought of Harry, she turned to the mess of blankets and messy black hair beside her.  
  
Ginny looked fondly at Harry's sleeping face just above the thick cotton blanket with a pretty smile gracing her fair porcelain face, many thoughts ran in her head.  
  
"Doesn't he look so cute and inviting? With that messy bed hair of his and a shadow of a small smile playing on his lips, he's such a heart throb and a potential heart breaker." Ginny thought, "But dare I claim that I'm the first girl who got to see him sleep and not to mention, sleep in the same bed as him. Not even Hermione could claim that." Ginny then began giggling madly into her hand; the old feelings were rushing back like water from a dam being released. After giggling silently for a minute her mood changed 180 degrees to the complete opposite of the blissful feeling she had a minute ago. Ginny suddenly became very mad at herself, her clutched fist hard shaking madly.  
  
"No, wake up, you silly girl. You swore upon your soul last year that you were going to walk out of the hopeless crush and now, you're acting like a girl with a crush again. Yes, he was and still is a heart breaker. HE DOES NOT, I REPEAT, HE DOES NOT FEEL ANYTHING FOR YOU. HE IS WITH CHO AND YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HAVE THESE THOUGHTS ABOUT HIM!!" Ginny looked like a possessed person, her eyes narrowed into slits, her fist balled up in front of her. Suddenly, she heard the bed creaking softly as the boy beside her tossed in bed and she dropped her fists like hot pancake and quickly fixed her face to what seemed like a pathetic smile.  
  
Ginny eyed at Harry but he simply tossed to face the other direction and slept on. Furious with herself for no valid reason, Ginny stormed across the room to the wardrobe to collect her clothes and dashed out of the room but not without taking care not to make any noises, closing the door softly behind her.  
  
"I doubt if you could survive until tonight if you kept on having this little struggle with yourself, Ginny Weasley. Better take a cold shower to clear your little head full of fancy thoughts." Ginny thought on the way to the bathroom.  
  
"Urgh... Why must he still look so cute and handsome after all these years?" Ginny whined in between mouthfuls of ice cold water.  
  
~*~  
  
Harry and Ginny were apparently sitting at their usual corner in the park where they had shared a lot of memories. Both Harry and Ginny weren't speaking to each other other, they simply sat there enjoying the fresh air in the park, for Ginny's case, enjoying Harry's presence beside her, but actually, they were waiting for someone.  
  
As they had anticipated, a while later, a small figure was seen walking up the Mulberry Drive then turned into the park.  
  
"Hi, Harry, Ginny", the dark haired boy yelled across the park. Harry held up his hand in the air as a friendly gesture and motioned him over,  
  
"How's you doing, Harry?" Mark asked and sat down jovially on the patch of grass beside Harry. After a moment of silence, Harry took a deep breath and spoke,  
  
"So, Mark. Tell us, are you planning to go to Hog... that magic school? We are leaving tonight, going back to our boarding school. And before we go, we need to know what you are planning to do. Are you, or are you not going to the school?"  
  
Both Harry and Ginny were worried that he might not decide to go to Hogwarts after all. They had done all they could to help this boy that they liked very much but in the end, the final decision lay on him. If he decided not to attend Hogwarts after all, today might be the last time they got to see him.  
  
Ginny and Harry held their breathes, crossing their fingers, hoping that he wouldn't waste their efforts and not attend Hogwarts after all.  
  
"I thought I had told you? Don't tell me it slipped off my mind? Dear me, I promised myself that I'm going to tell you first hand. You see, Harry, Ginny", Mark started, "-actually I was in a dilemma whether should I give up everything and go join another world which I'm totally ignorant of. After several considerations, many sleepless nights (Ginny was biting her nails with anticipation) and with financially assist from a special magic organization, I've decided to heed your advise and attend the magic school".  
  
At this, Ginny and Harry jumped up, hugging each other and hopped on the spot with delight. Mark looked up at them from the ground, grinning crazily, after Harry and Ginny had got over their excitement, they both flung themselves at Mark, laughing madly. After finishing hugging each other, Mark pushed the two overexcited teenager off him, straightened up and cleared his throat (tears glistering in his deep blue eyes),  
  
"I'm so glad I got to befriend you two this summer. I had a very happy summer, thanks to you. We might not get to see each other so often like before, but I hope we could get to see each other again next summer. You must come back next year, Ginny. I'll miss you my good friends." Although, Ginny knew perfectly well she would get to see Mark again sooner than he expected, her emotions still got the better of her. She pulled Mark into a big hug, big fat tears flowing down her cheeks freely.  
  
Harry was watching her with admiration,  
  
"That girl sure got talent in acting. Wow, those tears were so real. She even hiccupped when she cried." Mark pulled away from Ginny's death hug, pulled Harry into a brotherly one hand hug briefly before releasing him, turned his heel and walked off wiping his face with his sleeves occasionally. Harry and Ginny watched his retreating back until his shadow cast by the setting sun disappeared around the corner.  
  
"We'll see you sooner than you expect", Harry whispered and turned to look at Ginny who to his amusement and surprise, was still crying.  
  
"You can stop crying already. He's long gone." Harry said but instead of sniffing back her tears, Ginny flung herself onto Harry with that much force, she almost knocked him off his feet.  
  
"Oh, Harry. I'm so moved, he said that we are his good friends and he will miss us. Oh, I've never felt something so strong in my life. I'm so touched that by his friendship that I'm willing to die for him if needed. Never have I ever felt that strong love for me", she said with difficulty in between sobs.  
  
"We'll get to see him tomorrow on the train, don't worry! You don't have to die for him; no one will have to die. Come on, let's go back to pack. It's getting dark!", Harry cooed softly in Ginny ears making the skin of the back of her neck prickle, and comfort her all the way back to Privet Drive.  
  
~*~  
  
Harry stood at the window gazing at the red dusk sky and Ginny sat at the edge of the bed with their trunks standing at the end of the bed, while they waited for the appearance for the members of the Order. Ginny checked her watch for the twentieth time and looked up at Harry who was immersed with the scenery outside the window.  
  
His hair ruffled up by the light evening breeze, and the red sunset rays reflected in his dark hair and specs. His face set in a relaxed smile, his body posture casual and as if he had sensed a pair of eyes staring at him, he turned his head in slow motion, bored his brilliantly green soul-luring eyes into Ginny's warm chocolate brown ones and gave her his famous Harry- Potter heart-melting smile. Ginny felt her whole body turning to jelly, an almost painful longing feeling in her heart as she forced herself to return what looked like a silly dreamy grin. Harry thought that Ginny was getting sleepy with all the waiting, for her face looked dreamy like Luna Lovegood's, he blinked with his long dark eyelashes, a mischievously playful grin in his face and turned back to sky gazing.  
  
Ginny clenched her heart as the all-to-familiar heart wrenching pain played around her chest,  
  
"I've fallen hopelessly in love with The-Boy-Who-Took-My-Heart again. Oh Merlin, God in heaven help me!"  
  
At that precise moment, Mrs Weasley, Moody, Lupin, Tonks and Kingsley, appeared from the middle of nowhere. Harry was jolted out of his thought by their sudden appearance, and he strolled over to greet them. Lupin looked over Harry's shoulder, who was enveloped in a tight hug by Mrs Weasley, at Ginny who had just removed her hand from her chest and her gaze away from Harry, with a concerned look. Ginny felt oddly uncomfortable by the ex- professor's stare and she quickly moved over to Mrs Weasley who immediately release Harry and imprison her into her embrace.  
  
"We've got no time for hanky-panky, Molly. The portkey is going to be active by five minutes", Moody's usual growl rang through the small room. Mrs Weasley let go of the almost turning blue from lack of oxygen Ginny, and shot a deadly Molly-stare at Moody, who shifted around uncomfortably under her stare.  
  
"Got all your stuff in the trunk, Ginny and Harry?", Mrs Weasley said in a cheery tone. Ginny nodded at the ground, determined not to look up for she could feel Lupin's gaze upon her and from the shadow cast by the lights, she saw Harry's shadow gave a nod.  
  
"Everyone wands out, Potter and the little Weasley too. We might be ambushed when we reach the burrow, this portkey might even be tampered with", Moody barked and everyone in the room rolled their eyes, "Hold on to trunks, touch the portkey (a dirty and smelling sock), on the count of three".  
  
Everyone had a look of disgust on their faces and trying to touch as little of the surface of the portkey as possible,  
  
"Now, on the count of three, three....... two....... One...... CONSTANT VILIGANCE!" Moody's voice rang in their heads and with the all-too-familiar tug in their navel; they disappeared into the thin air.  
  
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Another 2000 word chapter. Oh I'm so proud of myself, a slight twist in the story. Muha... ha..... Ha.... All shall love me and despair!!!! * Crackle rings through the night * 


	22. Harry Lookalike

These are my response for the reviews given by readers:  
  
David – thank u for ur comment!!  
  
Kneh13 – hey if Moody isn't odd then where's the fun? I love crushes, for I used to crush for this guy even until now. I always hope he would realize my presence, so I could understand hoe Ginny feels!! Both of us crushes a guy for years!!  
  
Dementorchic – harry & ginny wouldn't kiss that soon! In case u didn't read my AN for the previous chapters, I HATE kissing. I think them as gross!! But maybe I'll add in a kiss on the cheek or what, but it all depends on my mood!! So u should know what to do, give me reviews to improve my mood!!  
  
Nymphadora003 – harry isn't going to find out his feelings too soon, some drama on the plan! But I swear that this is going to be good stuff!! I'll make u tear with the touching moments!! I kinda enjoying making people cry!!  
  
Slivercrystal77 – So after much anticipation, the fluff or rather, romance finally comes. But I promise the romance is not the usual fluffy stuff, u find some touching moments before the fluff, but I'm not telling u how!! * smirks evilly *  
  
JamieBell – I'm thinking of doing a sequel but I find that it's hard to keep track of sequels so I think I'll just continue this to the end! I find Mark a cutie too, he's a cool boy too!!  
  
Glitter8262 – I'm glad u enjoyed my fic!  
  
Lourdes I'm glad u enjoyed my fic!  
  
Sabs – Dun die, pls. I still need u to review my every chap!! I'll try to shorten the waiting!! Hey r u serious abt reviewing everyday until I post a chap? I find that u do, I've seen quite a lot of ur reviews!! U r so cute!!  
  
Rhinemir – hey, u r making me blush! I'm not that great a writer. Arios is great, she's my fav writer. Try her fics!!  
  
Haunting Darkness – Oh, pls dun KILL me, I'll try my best to update faster. I still love the feeling of breathing the polluted air, I dun wanna die before I could get to read the last 2 HP books. At least spare my life till JK finished the 2 books!!  
  
COCO BUTTER - As u c, I always have the tendency to end up in the Azkaban somehow. That's why I have not been posting in DM! Everytime I wanna post, I'll somehow manage to offend some admin or mods and end up with a 2 wks sentence in Azkaban. This is my 3rd time in azkaban, and I'm banned there. But I think I'll sign up another account as 'ahbahh' and resume posting my story! But I think it's better if u follow me at FF cos I update faster over here than there!! So stay here for me!!  
  
Unoewho - thanks! I'm glad that u like it!  
  
Ehothen – it's a misunderstanding, it's not the last chapter!!  
  
Arios – hello ario, my fav author! I'm so sorry I freaked u out wif the 'The End' at the previous chapter!! I'm still writing!!  
  
Amyaggie – yeah, finally I got to the romance part, I'm as glad abt it as u! enjoy my story!  
  
Zigzag772 – the action is coming!! keep tuned!!  
  
Princesscici – oh, did u really love my fic? Thanks!! I'll try to read ur fic once I got the time!! Look out for my name!!  
  
Nightsky13 – thanks!!  
  
Miss ginny – thanks for ur suggestions, I'll improve on my sentence fluency!! Is my language not proper? I didn't realized that but I'll talk abt it wif my beta reader. Sorry abt the spelling mistakes, I'll take note of them. Oops, did my characters sound American? I wanted them to be british but I'm not a british so it's kinda difficult but I'll try my best to write to british style. And by the way, I'm not even an American, how is it that I sound like one? Beats me!!  
  
Snakedynasty – happy waiting!!  
  
Sweetale77 – I kinda got the idea of mark being a wizard from his last name, remember Dudley beats up a kid called mark evans in Ootp. The last name evans reminds me of lily evans. Actually mark being a wizard isn't the twist I'm mentioning. I just made him a wizard because he played an important part in harry n ginny's life but I'm not telling u how here!!  
  
Theoneaboveall – thanks but it's not done!!  
  
Ginnypotter – hey I like ur username, ginny potter, yeah!! Hey how could u tell I have watched lord of the rings before? Can u tell from my writing? Im a 100% ringer!!  
  
Jennifer – I'll update real fast!!  
  
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The moment Harry and the others appeared a moment later at the living room of the Burrow, a crowd of people jumped out of the shadowed room shouting, "SURPRISE". As Lupin, Moody and Mrs Weasley knew beforehand that there was a surprise party going on so no one attacked but Harry, who had been kept in the dark the whole time, was so alarmed that he began stunning everyone in sight. He had stunned Fred, George (they had "dressed" themselves up to look like Harry) and Percy, who was nearest to him before a guy who sounded like Bill disarmed him.  
  
"Relax, Harry", the dark-haired man said coolly, throwing Harry's wand back to him and revived the three limp figures lying on the ground.  
  
"If not that Dumbledore had bullied Fudge into allowing you to use magic outside school, seeing that you are the most wanted man in You-Know-Who's list, you would have to go on another trip to the dungeon courtroom, Harry!"  
  
Tonks (who had braided yellow hair) chipped in enthusiastically, "Yeah, I've witnessed him doing magic unconsciously on many occasions when I'm on duty. But I dare say, he was too smitten........."  
  
"I dare you to finish off your sentence, Tonks", Harry interrupted in a cool tone that froze many of the spectators' blood and of course, that shut Tonks up properly. Several groans coming up from the ground got everyone's attention,  
  
"Aren't you a bit too enthusiastic, mate?" the guy who sounded like either Fred or George (Harry couldn't tell the difference between them, both had dark hair, round specs and the lightning shaped scar. They were hard to differentiate but their voices gave themselves away as the twins) said as he helped his other twin off the ground.  
  
"Keep going like that and you will be the next Moody. Attack first, question later. Beware! Potter's on the move!" The other twin grumbled sarcastically as he pulled himself off the ground. Harry hung his head in embarrassment for being so tense. When he lifted up his head to look at the now lit roomful of people, he was so shocked that he almost started hexing half the people in the living room again as they all looked oddly like him. (Ron, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Kingsley, Hermione, Hagrid, Dumbledore, Mr Weasley all had their hair dyed black, wore round specs and had a lightning scar on their foreheads.)  
  
The ten Harry Potters then started to sing the Birthday Song. The real Harry stared at his ten duplicates, almost wanting to faint.  
  
"THE PARTY BEGINS!!" one of the many Harrys cried out loud to the room and there was an immediate uproar; hundreds of the Weasley Wildfire Whizzbangers were let off and loud fast tempo songs by the Weird Sisters were played at ear deafening volumes. Two Harrys were seen dancing in a very violent way on the supposed dance floor (the table in the living room), a tall bearded Harry was swinging a curly and bushy haired female Harry dangerously around the obstacle filled living room and a Hagrid sized Harry was trying to move with the music (with difficulty) around the packed living room.  
  
Harry watched the ridiculous scene playing out in front of his bewildered eyes when someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was, or rather, he was another Harry; only that he was taller and lankier. He had a silly gin plastered on his (Harry's?) face.  
  
"Er............. Er........... What........... Who are you?" Harry asked and it sounded weird coming from his mouth. It was Harry standing in front of him, mind you! The Harry grinned in a trollish way and spoke,  
  
"I'm Ron, mate. You can't recognize me? See the freckles!!" and the Harry who claimed to be Ron pointed at his (Harry's?) freckled nose. Harry loosened his grip on his wand inside his pocket, which he had been holding on to all this time and smiled good-naturedly at him. He had been extra uptight since he first saw miniatures of himself running around the whole house in front of his eyes. He was ready to hex whoever said that he/she was Harry Potter, offer him drinks or food, or try to be too friendly, in case they were Deatheaters in disguise trying to do him in.  
  
"You must see you face, it's priceless", Ron chuckled and clenched his side laughing, Harry was a bit annoyed with Ron ("just imagine having so many people with your face running around you. I bet you'd think that you had gone off your rockers", Harry thought).  
  
After catching Harry's eyes, Ron stopped laughing and began telling him who was who and how to differentiate them (Dumbledore was the tall bearded long haired one, Hagrid was the giant sized one, Fred and George the eerily identical ones who were also the shortest males around but Ron couldn't tell the twins apart. Hermione was the female Harry, Bill the pony tailed one, Charlie the plumper one, Mr. Weasley the balding one and Tonks (she had obviously changed her appearance on her own to suit the occasion) was the one with the largest scar and specs not to mention the overgrown dark hair like weeds growing out of her head).  
  
"Fred and George invented this Harry-Potter-Look-a-like pill that enables the consumer to look like you. But as it isn't too much of a success, it only changes the user's hair black, develops this lightning shaped scar on the forehead and these specs (points at the specs resting on his long nose). Other than that, the user looks the same as himself-"  
  
Ron explained knowledgably to Harry who was silently thanking Merlin that the invention was not working as expected. Harry didn't think he could bear it if he walked along Diagon Alley, or in Hogwarts along the corridor, with people who looked exactly like him, brushing past him. Although on a positive note, at least Voldemort would have a hard time looking for the real Harry. He'd club himself to death with the beater's bat if one day, he found that all the other members of the Quidditch team were wearing his face for practice.  
  
"- and it's got this super long name though I can't really remember the full name. But it's called something like The Harry-Potter-Who-Lived- Defeated-the-Dark-Lord-Who's-The Nicest-Person-On-Earth-Bravest-Gryffindor- Best-And-Youngest-Seeker-In-The-Century-Most-Charming-Young-Man-Best-In- Defense-Of-Dark-Arts-Teacher-Best-Mate-"  
  
"- The-Weasley-Twin's-Benefactor Look-a-like Transfiguration Pill", the twins suddenly chorused together from behind Harry's back, making him jump a feet.  
  
"This invention-"  
  
"- is a tribute-"  
  
"-to you for-"  
  
"-your kindness to us."  
  
"Thank you mate-"  
  
"-for your generous-"  
  
"-a thousand galleons."  
  
"It had helped-"  
  
"-us to fulfill our-"  
  
"-humble wish to be-"  
  
"-the greatest jokers alive." Fred and George took turns to finish off each other's sentences and after that, they gave Harry a deep bow. Harry was momentarily thunderstruck, not knowing what to say and in the end settled with a weak smile at them who grinned widely back.  
  
"It's nothing, it's....... really...... nothing..........", Harry stuttered, his face red for being honored in this way.  
  
"As I've said before, I don't need the galleons, so even if you didn't take it, I would have it thrown down the drain anyway. There's no need to thank me but if you want to....... err....... I'll be most glad if you don't market the Harry-Potter- blah-blah-blah Pill to the market. I don't think my heart could take the shock of seeing myself all over the streets. But I don't mind if it's being circulated internally", Harry finished the last sentence quickly, afraid that the twins might not accept the deal too willingly.  
  
"Oh", Fred and George exclaimed with identical looks of disappointment on their identical faces. But their chubby faces lit up in no time,  
  
"Yeah, we could give them to lee, Angelina, Katie, Oliver-""  
  
"Not to mention Bill, Charlie, Ron, Ginny, Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Dumbledore, Hagrid-" said Fred, ticking off his fingers and George's.  
  
"Internally........ Internally...........", George repeated under his breathe and appeared to be racking his brains very hard, "we must not forget our fellow Gryffindors, must we? After all they are our most faithful customers, our source of income." He was now holding his heart dramatically.  
  
"Yeah, we would have earned half less without their support for the Weasley Wizard Wheezes.", Fred said, "It's a pity that Harry mate doesn't want it circulated publicly. We actually planned to disguise them as innocent toffees, chocolates, cookies, every flavor beans and smuggle them into the Ministry. Imagine Fudge old fool's face if he sees his Aurors wearing The- Boy-Who-Lived-but-Irked-Fudge-To-No-End's look."  
  
"Even better if he sees the mirror and finds Harry staring at him", George said with an evil smirk in his face as Fred laughed hysterically, falling on his knees.  
  
"Yeah, and to think that we had already blackmailed Tonks and Kingsley into helping us let loose those darlings into the Ministry", George said sadly, watching Fred rolling on the ground making the spot he rolled on, cleaner than before.  
  
"But Mum would know it's you and she'll kill you two maggots", Ron said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Yeah, Mrs Weasley would skin you alive and ground you till you are thirty years old", Harry agreed.  
  
"You should hear what she say when it comes to Fudge, she hates him to the core and she hasn't forgiven him for trying to get you expelled from school. We even heard her say to dad one evening that she wanted to go to the Ministry of Magic personally to give him a piece of her mind for trying to do a kid in. A disgrace to the wizarding world, she always says", George said and everyone laughed at the mental image of Mrs Weasley, hands on hips, shouting herself hoarse at Fudge taking refuge under his desk.  
  
"Wait....... Wait....... err....... If I allow you to circulate the pills into the Ministry, could you not circulate them to the Gryffindors?" Harry said and immediately the twin's face lit up.  
  
"You mean it? Of course we wouldn't mind. We always wanted to have a go at old Fudge", Fred and George said in unison and they both put their heads together, conspiring more deadly tricks for Fudge.  
  
Harry pulled Ron away to get some punch before Fred and George emptied bottles of Firewhisky into it. He was smirking to himself, the Marauder blood in him flowing full force.  
  
"So. Fudge! I've got the twins on my side. You don't know what you've got yourself into when you try to do me in. Make my life difficult again this year; I'll make sure they do something that'll haunt you for the rest of your life! Watch out, Fudge" and Harry laughed eerily internally.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny sat in one dark corner watching everyone dance in their own odd fashion, her eyes wandered over to Harry who looked as if he was going to faint on occasion. She eyed him and Ron who was talking animatedly to the twins. Identical looks of devilish amusement on their faces.  
  
"Conspiring something, must be!" her thought to herself. (She could differentiate who was who as it was kind of easy because there were some visible tell-tale signs about everyone.) Ginny watched them carefully with a hawk's eye and her heart lifted a bit to see Harry smiling and enjoying the bizarre party. She was happy that she had a part in organizing a party that made Harry cheerful. She kept her gaze in Harry's direction hoping that he would catch her eye and maybe smile at her or even join her, but to her disappointment, he wasn't too aware of his surrounding at the moment.  
  
Ginny sighed after Harry didn't spot her after glancing at her direction. She buried her face in her hands in anguish and watched Harry laughing and dancing out ridiculously funny moves with Hermione, then Ron, Tonks, and almost everyone in the room except her. She felt distressed, she had always thought that after the summer, she would be in Harry's mind. She would take up quite an important place in his heart, although that place might not be a special one, but at least she would be in an even place with Ron and Hermione, but she was wrong. She was nothing to Harry; she was just a silly girl who spent her whole summer with him on her parents' orders. Ginny felt her eyes prickle as tears threatened to escape and she buried her face into her hands completely, not able to bear to watch him dancing with Mrs Weasley now. Big fat tears had escaped its hold and rolled right into her palms.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a weigh on the side of the couch she was sitting on and she turned to look at the intruder of her self-wallowing misery with big teary reproachful eyes. Her eyes softened and she wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeves hurriedly before flashing a forced smile at Lupin who was polite to look away while she cleaned herself up.  
  
"Why didn't you join them?" Lupin asked as they watched Harry and McGonagall waltzing to the upbeat music.  
  
"I'm fine..... it's not like I'm being missed" she finished the last sentence in an inaudible whisper that she thought Lupin wouldn't pick up.  
  
"Why do you say that? You are just as appreciated as any of us", he replied earnestly, his wolf sense picking up the whisper very well. Ginny gave a series of empty laughter, excused herself politely and went to get herself some punch.  
  
Ginny emptied the glass of punch down her throat in frustration, the sweet liquid tickled down her parched throat and to her amazement, warmth spread from her stomach to the tips of her fingers and toes. Liking the new feelings, she stood beside the punch bowl and drowned down glasses and glasses of the sweet punch. After what seemed like a few couple of glasses of punch, Ginny felt strangely light headed. The loud music was making her head ache, the flashing of enchanted neon coloured lights was making her head spin. She felt very ill, her head felt lighter than her body and she felt oddly unbalanced.  
  
The discomfort was overwhelming, she felt like being sick and crying like she always did when she was younger. Slowly, Ginny attempted to move over to the couch but the sudden movement unbalanced her. Without warning, her aching legs gave way and she collapsed.  
  
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Haha...... cliffhanger and definitely a twist...... Do you think Harry really didn't care for her? Anyone wanna guess whether she got caught before she hit the ground or not? Review and tell me!! 


	23. The Sick Act

Thanks for your reviews!! I love you all!! * flying kisses everywhere*  
  
Special thanks to my beta reader, The Backliner. Hey pal, I feel like as if my chap's being marked by a teacher. I'm trying to tease u!!  
  
Hey u ppl should see the thing he sent me, he even give me advise on what word to use and what tense to write. Pretty hilarious!!  
  
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Scene: At the living room of burrow  
  
Harry spotted Ginny standing beside the punch bowl, sipping a glass of punch. Her eyes seemed a bit unfocused and she kept on shaking her head as if trying to clear it. He meant to warn her that the punch had been spiked but now, it seemed that it was too late.  
  
"Oh no!! Please don't let her have drunk too much!!" Harry thought frantically as he tried to push through the crowd to reach her. It took Harry about a minute to navigate through the human obstacles scattered around the 'dance floor' (living room). He was walking up to Ginny, about to reach her when he noticed her staring in his direction but her eyes didn't show any signs of acknowledgement.  
  
Suddenly, Harry's seeker trained eyes saw Ginny stumble and slowly, like a film being slowed down, her legs gave way and her petite form fell lower and lower to the ground. Harry did the fastest thing in the world without thinking, he pushed away Percy, who was standing in between Ginny and him, and with his seeker reflexes, caught her before she hit the ground. But he just wasn't fast enough; he merely managed to put his arm around Ginny's neck and stop the collision between the ground and her head, saving her from a head concussion.  
  
In the attempt, Harry's wrist hit the ground with a sickening crack. What followed right after was a high-pitched scream coming from either Mrs Weasley or Hermione, and the scampering of many feet as everyone rushed over to see what had happened. Ignoring the throbbing pain and the quick swelling of his right wrist, Harry slapped Ginny lightly on her cheeks concentrating on trying to revive her and after several fruitless attempts, he swept her off the ground, with his right arm supporting her head since the wrist was broken and couldn't support any weight. Harry carried Ginny up to her room with the Weasleys and others following closely behind him. Mrs Weasley shooed all of them out of the room after Harry laid Ginny onto the marine blue bed sheets and slammed the door shut on their concerned faces.  
  
Mrs Weasley spent ages inside Ginny's room, just as the anxious Ron, Bill, Percy, Charlie, Fred and George was about to knock on the door, Mrs Weasley came out and gave an all-clear signal to them who were lying sprawled all over the floor outside the room. Harry and the rest gave a loud sigh of relief and were shooed either back to bed or home before they could protest.  
  
Fred and George, who were hiding behind Bill and Charlie all the while, both taller than them, tried to retreat back to their bedroom unnoticed when a large hand rested on their shoulders. They turned around feebly to see Mrs Weasley towering over them as they cowered in a corner; her hands reached for their large Weasley ears and twisted them mercilessly.  
  
"I'm not done with you two! Spiking the punch and landing your only sister in such a state! I know just the way to fix you and your itchy fingers!" Mrs Weasley said through clenched teeth and pulled Fred and George away by their ears behind her. They looked back at Harry with pleading eyes but he simply shook his head sympathetically behind their retreating back and followed Ron to his bedroom.  
  
Ron, who didn't have the slightest idea of Harry's injury in the course of saving his only sister from a bad fall, fell asleep almost immediately after he hit the bed, clearly exhausted by the day's activities. Harry was left on his own, nursing his now red, swollen and painfully throbbing wrist. Harry held one end of his hanky with his teeth and tried to wrap it around his wrist with the other free hand, wincing with pain all the while but not uttering a single sound. He did a bad job of bandaging his wrist but at least it was strong enough to hold whatever had broken, in place. Rubbing his wrist to soothe the pain, Harry slowly fell into a restless and strangely uncomfortable (Harry couldn't place what was nagging him, apart from the pain in his broken wrist) sleep.  
  
Harry had just went into dreamland after much tossing and turning in bed when someone shook his shoulders, jerking him out of him blissful comfortable sleep.  
  
"Stop shaking me, Ginny. I'm not that dead asleep. Oh, I'm developing a bad migraine, I guess we could go out only after this irritating headache of mine subsided", Harry mumbled from the tangle of bed sheets. He opened one of eyes beadily; expecting to see a tousle haired Ginny with bleary eyes and crumpled up nightgown when Mrs Weasley's blurred outline came into his vision.  
  
"Wake up, Harry dear. We are going off to the station right after breakfast. It's getting late!" Mrs Weasley said tenderly but she could hardly suppress the look of curiosity from her face.  
  
"Oh, good morning, Mrs Weasley", Harry said in between yawns, "I'm waking up. I'll be down in a minute" His voice croaky, and blushing a bit for mistaking Ginny's mum for her.  
  
"Okay, come down fast. Please be a dear, Harry, and help me wake Ron up. Check through your trunk for anything and carry it down with you when you come down" Mrs Weasley said and exited the room.  
  
After several extreme but unsuccessful measures (throwing pillows at him, piling blankets onto him) to try to wake the log dead Ron, Harry was finally forced to use his most deadly resort (placing Ron's shoes in front of his nose) and succeeded in rousing him from his sleep. Harry quickly changed into his day clothes; pass Ron Mrs Weasley's message and left the room, leaving him to change his clothes in private.  
  
Harry walked into the kitchen to find the twins nodding into their empty plates, swinging dangerously in their seats, Ginny looking well for someone who had passed out from too much of drink the previous night and Mrs Weasley busying herself at the stove.  
  
"Morning, people!" Harry chanted in a voice too bright and cheery for his dizzy state. Fred and George nearly fell off their chairs at the sudden outburst and when they looked up accusing at Harry, he got a shock to see that both of them had dark shadows under their usually lively but now, dull eyes.  
  
Seeing the puzzled look on Harry's face, Ginny explained to him that they their punishment had been to clean up the mess of the party last night without magic and it took them the whole night scrubbing the living room and kitchen, muggle-styled. But Harry wasn't paying attention to her, he had his eyes shut tight and brows together forming a line, giving him a pained look. A wave of extreme dizziness was overtaking him at the moment but Ginny had misunderstood the gesture as uninterested, irritation, and promptly shut up from the embarrassment of lack of attention. To cover for her embarrassment, Ginny stared determinedly at her plate was she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes.  
  
After the kitchen stopped spinning in Harry's mind, he shook his head to clear his vision and continued with breakfast as if nothing had happened, clearly he hadn't noticed that Ginny had spoken earlier. Gradually, the clicking sounds of utensils, the snoring coming from the dozing off twins, and the occasional sucking noises coming from the twins as they suck back the drools that were tickling down the corner of their mouth, filled up the kitchen but no conversations were going on.  
  
Ginny was too busy blinking back tears to be bothered with the awkward silence but Harry felt a strange tension in the air and was about to make a witty comment when Ron's all-too-loud voice rang through the whole house from the top of the stairs.  
  
"Shut up, Ron, for Merlin's sake! There's no need to shout!" Ginny said weakly, as she squeezed her eyes tight, holding her head with her hands. Harry was silently agreeing with her as he pinched his nose as his head throbbed uncomfortably and curses were heard coming from the twins who fallen off their seats from the sudden commotion.  
  
"Sorry!" Ron apologized and he descended the stairs with Hermione following closely behind.  
  
"What's that on your wrist?" Hermione asked as she sat down beside Ginny who was opposite to Harry.  
  
"Oh, nothing it's just......... Hey, you're drooling all over your plate, Fred!", Harry exclaimed, pointing at the drool that was accumulating into a small puddle on Fred's plate. Exclaims of disgust broke out at the table, there was a dare going on who dared to wipe the saliva off Fred's face first, Hermione took up the dare and wiped the slime off Fred's face carefully with a napkin only to find that George who was seated beside her was drooling like a teething toddler onto her shoulders. Shrieks of horror coming from Hermione, rattling the creaky windows in the small kitchen, Harry thanked Merlin that he had succeeded in shifting the attention to the twins, he didn't know why but he didn't feel like letting Ginny know that he had hurt himself.  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
Both Harry and Ginny were bullied into taking the Pepper-Up Potion by Mrs Weasley for looking peaky before they were allowed to leave the kitchen with steaming ears. Kingsley, Lupin and to Harry's annoyance, Tonks, were their escorts that day. They got to the Leaky Cauldron by floo powder and walked to the station from there. It took them only fifteen minutes to get there and they were ten minutes early but to Harry and Ginny's embarrassment, steam was still coming out of their ears and they were inviting a lot of curious stares. Harry tried to ignore the fact that he looked like a human kettle (steam pouring out of his ears concealed under his thick black hair) and proceed to help Ron, Hermione and Ginny, heave their heavy trunks up the train, acting as if it was a completely normal thing for him to look like a kettle and Ginny looking like her head was a fiery mess of flames.  
  
"Cool wristband you've got there, Harry!!" Seamus shouted to Harry from the window of the train where Harry was standing. He returned a forced grin and resumed to his trunks loading job. Slightly warm and a bit out of breathe, they went to look for a quiet and empty compartment and found one at the far end of the train, away from noisy chatters.  
  
After putting away their belongings, they all stuck their heads out of the window, waving and blowing kisses to Mrs Weasley, Lupin, Kingsley and Tonks. The whistle sounded and slowly the train moved and pick up speed.  
  
"Bye Mrs Weasley (Mum), thank you for having us at the Burrow (we'll write to you soon). Bye Lupin, bye Tonks, bye Kingsley!! See you next summer!!" Slowly the figures at the platform became smaller and the students, who had their heads out waving to parents, stuck their heads back into the compartments, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Harry included.  
  
They turned away from the window and Hermione cleared her throat in a deliberate way to get their attention,  
  
"Ron and I have to go to the Prefects' compartment at the front. But we'll be back after finishing patrolling the corridor" and she walked purposefully towards the door but Ron wasn't making any movement.  
  
"They have got more than enough prefects to make the rounds, I wouldn't be missed." Ron said and settled himself comfortably opposite Harry and Ginny.  
  
"You are so irresponsible!! No way are you staying here!!" Hermione bellowed and was a bit flushed in the face. She jerked Ron out of the seat by his arms and dragged him out of the compartment, ignoring his protests. Harry stuck his head out of the compartment and found that many heads were out of the compartments too, investigating the source of the commotion. Laughing airily, Harry returned to the compartment and closed the door after him.  
  
Harry settled down on the seat opposite Ginny and they stared at each other for a few minutes, an awkward silence between them. Harry didn't like being in an enclosed area with only Ginny. Yes, they were very comfortable with each other during the summer but now the feeling he had with Ginny was too weird, so funny that he didn't know how to describe it. Harry was suddenly feeling awkward around her.  
  
Harry felt it rude to be staring at Ginny especially when no conversation was going on, so he turned his gaze away from her to the scenery outside. A while later, the food trolley came and Harry bought a whole load of candies and snacks enough to feed the whole of Gryffindor, and handed most of them to Ginny shyly.  
  
They spend most of the afternoon either eating the snacks in silence or staring at their own feet. Harry did try many times to start a conversation but they always end up as a 'Yes' or 'No' answer from Ginny, clearly the embarrassment earlier at the kitchen in the Burrow was still embedded in her mind. If she really does talk and Harry wasn't interested in what she had to say, she would be embarrassed again, so saving herself from the possibilities of embarrassment, it's better if she didn't talk at all.  
  
At the later part of the afternoon, the sky darkened but it didn't rain and Hermione and Ron didn't return as soon as they promised they would. Slowly, the both of them became drowsier and drowsier; the swinging of the compartment caused Ginny and Harry to have a full force headache. Ginny felt nauseous, her breakfast and the snacks she had earlier churning in her weak stomach. Harry on the other hand felt as if the whole compartment was spinning in front of his eyes.  
  
Ginny clenched her hands over her mouth and stomach, Harry rested his head on a side of the wall, a hand rubbing the bridge of his nose, an obvious sign of an oncoming headache, both of them were sweating profusely despite the cool wind blowing into the cabin from the open window but they felt moist and cold in the insides.  
  
Hermione and Ron returned to the compartment after finishing their rounds a while later, they were most alarmed to find Harry and Ginny lying sprawled over the seats in agony. Hermione helped massage Harry's shoulders and head hoping to ease his discomfort, Ron was force feeding Ginny warm beverage to help ease the nauseous feeling. They sponged them trying to make them feel better, took turns to go to the front to urge the train captain to go faster. They almost cried with relief when the train finally reached Hogwarts. With help from Ron and Hermione, Harry and Ginny managed to get onto the coach all right.  
  
The moment the coach reached the doorsteps of the castle, Ron carried Ginny and ran all the way up the castle to the third floor where the hospital wing was located, pushing over fellow students on the way. After setting Ginny down on the bed, Ron went back for Harry and with the help from Neville, Seamus and Dean; they carried Harry to the hospital wing and set him onto the bed beside Ginny.  
  
Madam Promfrey almost had a heart attack to find a crowd of students in the hospital wing, she didn't expect students to get hurt or sick in the first day of school. After she got over the shock, she returned to her normal snappy self and shooed them out of the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione stubbornly refused to go away, not before they knew that Harry and Ginny was going to be all right.  
  
Madam Promfrey separated Harry and Ginny with white curtains and busied herself behind them. She reappeared from behind the curtains a while later, clicking her tongue with distaste, mumbling to herself,  
  
"Students in the hospital wing on the first day of school. One with a broken wrist, one with high level of alcohol in her body, both suffering from a serious case of potion poisoning. Children nowadays", she shook her head and looked up. Hermione and Ron were sitting on one of the beds.  
  
"I thought I asked you two to go to the Great Hall? Planning to disturb the peace in the hospital wing, are you? Planning to have an all night party with your little friends in the hospital wing, are you? Shoo... Shoo... Go before I called for the headmaster" Madam Pomfrey flipped her hands at them and chase then out of the hospital wing.  
  
Retreating back to her office mumbling about student conspiring uproar in the hospital wing, she left Harry and Ginny on their own, weak and sore lying on their bed that smelled strongly of disinfectant as she prepared the potions for them.  
  
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Guess what happens next? Actually I had finished the next chapter, but whether if I'll post it soon or not, it depends on your performance. That means review!!  
  
Hey by the way, I like people to give me long reviews!! How about we have a guessing game on what will happen next? Those who got the plot right would get to read the next chap before everyone else does!! I'll personally sent you the next chap before my precious beta reader, The Backliner, even gets to beta it. Fair? Yes, I think so.  
  
ALL SHALL LOVE ME AND DESPAIR!! ( I like this verse! Muah...... haha.........) 


	24. The Trouble with Sorting

The winner of the contest is........... nobody!! It's nobody as in N.O.B.O.D.Y!!  
  
But a lot of u were very sweet, funny and making me smile!! I love u ppl!! Okay I did say that I had finished a few chap but the reason that I took so long to update is that I HAVE TO TYPE THEM OUT!! Jiggling from job seeking, home keeping, and tutoring my siblings, I could hardly find time to type out the fic from hard copy to soft copy. And I cant sit in front of my pc for long cos I will have a very bad headache and a very tired eyes if I were to do so. So pls forgive me!! If u wanna blame, just blame those ppl who just dun wanna employ me!!* sigh *  
  
Okay, I'm going to cry if I were to say more, just enjoy this chap!!  
  
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Scene: In the hospital wing  
  
"Psss.................. Psss................ Ginny.............. Ginny................." Harry whispered in a low voice and Ginny turned to her left to see Harry sitting up on the bed, waving his hand at her to get her attention. Ginny raised her eyebrows in amusement and was about to open her mouth to ask what it was about when Harry placed a single finger on his lips to motion to her to be silent.  
  
"Shhh............. Don't make a noise........... She might hear", he whispered and pointed to the office where the matron was. "I want to watch Mark being sorted. I think we will still make it on time. Do you want to come along too?" Ginny nodded her head to show that she wanted to and tried to get off the bed with much difficulty as she did not seem to have much control over her limps. Harry was not managing his limps too well either. Holding their breathe; trying to make as little noise as possible so as to not attract the matron's attention, they slowly tiptoed out of the hospital wing and made their way down to the Great Hall.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
"Shah, Omar"  
  
"Hufflepuff"  
  
"Wang, Zax"  
  
"Slytherin"  
  
"Bogaraju, Lavanya "  
  
"Hufflepuff"  
  
"The sorting's started, we have to hurry" Ginny said anxiously to Harry and they both hurried to the Great Hall. When they reached the entrance to the Great Hall, they saw a line of children queuing up neatly from the back of the Great Hall to the front where the professors' table was, waiting to be sorted. Ginny and Harry scanned through the sea of heads, hoping to spot a raven-haired boy but as there were too many dark-haired children as well as quite a number of asian children this year, they could not make out Mark's head from them.  
  
Harry and Ginny lowered their heads and hunched their backs trying to make themselves as small as possible as they dashed across the hall over to the Gryffindor table and squeezed themselves into a space between Ron and Hermione. Both Ron and Hermione were surprised to find Harry and Ginny joining them for the feast when they were supposed to be resting in the hospital wing.  
  
"Harry, what on earth........."  
  
"Shhh..............." both Harry and Ginny hissed at Ron, each placing a finger at their lips to emphasis to him to shut up which he did, obediently. Both Ginny and Harry were transfixed at watching the sorting ceremony, something very unusual of them; Ron and Hermione were eyeing them in narrow suspicious eyes.  
  
"Ma Yin, Mynthi "  
  
"Gryffindor"  
  
"Evans, Mark"  
  
Ginny nudged Harry at his ribs to get his attention and unconsciously, they held each other's hands nervously as they watched Mark walk out from the crowd of first years, towards the stool where the old, patched and dirty hat now stood. Mark suddenly looked small and scared, trembling from head to toe in the all-too-large cloak donated by Neville and the not- really- pointed hat donated by Dean, as he picked up the hat carefully by it's tip using only the first two fingers, as though afraid that the talking hat might just go bonkers and rip his hands off. He sat on the stool, his feet hardly brushing the ground and placed the dirty old hat over his head, half of his face covered by the overlarge hat.  
  
"Gryffindor"  
  
There was an immediate uproar from the Gryffindor table but it was louder than the usual catcalling and cheering for other new Gryffindors because Harry and Ginny were on their feet, shouting at the top of their lungs. Mark swung the hat off his head, a silly grin on his face, placed it back onto the stool and was walking towards the Gryffindor table when two people jumping up and down like a manic from the Gryffindor table caught his attention,  
  
"HARRY! GINNY!" Mark shouted so loudly that the rest of the hall hushed and looked to their direction. Running over to them and throwing himself onto Harry, knocking the breathe out of him, the three of them hugged each other and hopped on the spot like overexcited kids, closely watched by the whole school and the professors.  
  
A series of clapping was heard coming from the professors' table echoing through the high-ceiling hall, and soon thunderous clapping could be heard as the rest of the school joined in, of course except the Slytherins and Professor Snape.  
  
It was quite a scene watching the Boy-Who-lived squeaking and giggling like a ten year little girl, a redheaded girl who's bright hair caught the candle's light at every angle and a small and short first year, hugging each other and screaming with delight. Everyone was watching them with great interest, when suddenly, without any warning, Harry fell onto his knees on the floor clenching the side of the table, then his grip loosened and he collapsed onto the floor. Everyone 'ohhed' and 'ahhed', and scampered towards the Gryffindor table up to get a better view of what was happening when a loud thud echoed in the hall and Ginny was seen laying sprawled across Harry's chest.  
  
"Help! Someone help!"  
  
~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~  
  
Ginny opened her heavy leaded eyes feebly as the bright light in the room was blinding her, she had a splitting headache and when she moved her head, there was a part at the back of her head which hurts with every movement she made. Her whole backbone was aching badly like as though she had fallen onto the hard ground from a great height, and her limps were kind of numb, prickling and itching as if there were millions of ants scurrying on them. She tried to push herself up to a sitting position and immediately, many pairs of hands came to help her, she then realized that a roomful of people was watching her. She scanned through the crowd and spotted many familiar faces; Ron, Hermione, Luna (her only female friend, since she has only one friend, she can be counted as her best friend. Other normal girls found Ginny too weird, not at all like a girl so they usually shun her, but not that she minded, she found them weird too. They were too girlie to her likings), Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Neville, Seamus and Dean. Ginny then suddenly realised that she was in the hospital wing.  
  
She heard a sniff coming from Ron and turned to look at him, only to find that he looked on the verse of a nervous breakdown. She also noticed that Hermione was standing behind him, her hands at his broad shoulders, kneading them gently. Ginny was about to ask them what had happened when snaps of her last waken moments flashed in her mind:  
  
She and Harry hugging each other.........  
  
Mark wringing their hands and beaming at them.............  
  
She and Harry beaming at Mark then at each other like proud parents.............  
  
Harry collapsing onto the ground without warning, he isn't moving.........  
  
She wanted to shout for help but no voice came............  
  
She tried to squat down to help Harry but she felt suddenly light headed herself.............  
  
Her legs gave way and she fell...........  
  
The back of her head hit the side of the bench, she didn't have time to register what had happened and she blacked out....................  
  
"How's Harry?" she croaked through a patched throat and attempted to get off the bed only to be restricted by Ron and Professor Dumbledore.  
  
"I'm fine. Though still a bit sick and weak. I think all those excitement really tired us out", came a voice at her right. She snapped her head to the source of the voice so fast that her neck gave a crack sound but she took no notice of it. She was too busy checking Harry with her eyes; he was a bit pale and peaky (she isn't looking too great herself), his right wrist was cast in thick bandage, his brows were squeezed together ( "must be the headache", she thought) but otherwise, he looked perfectly all right.  
  
"Mr. Potter is all right but it's you who we're worried about. You have been unconscious for several hours, we were very afraid that you might be badly hurt by the knock on the head. We are glad that you are awake now. Mr Weasley here is most worried about you, he afraid that you would have damaged your brains so badly that you might be an idiot if you were to wake" Dumbledore said with a tone of amusement in his voice, his deep blue eyes twinkling like stars.  
  
Ginny turned to look at his youngest brother who was looking away in embarrassment, and lunged herself onto him,  
  
"I'm fine, just fine. Don't worry!" she kissed her brother on the cheek and held him at an arm's length to give him a better view of her. She looked sweetly at her brother and suddenly, faster than any weather could change, she turned serious and smacked Ron on the head.  
  
"Aw..... what's that for? You sure she is still sane, Madam Pomfrey? You sure the knock hadn't damaged her brains?" Ron asked nervously and earned himself another smack.  
  
"Are you suggesting that I'm not sane" Ginny said in dignity, "I need to teach you a lesson for suggesting that I might be an idiot. Clearly, that was what you wished for, isn't it?" and she pulled out her tongue playfully at Ron.  
  
Everyone laughed as the two siblings bicker and shove each other around lovingly. Harry could not help but laugh along with them, these two people were the most ridiculous people he had ever met, and not to mention that they were both mental cases and yet they were the two of the most important figures in his life. Life would be so dull without their presence gracing his life. Harry's thoughts were interrupted by a deafening yell.  
  
It was Ron. He was yelling for help and shaking Ginny who was lying limp in his arms. Harry was starting to panic too when he saw Ginny lying limp as a dead fish in Ron's freckled arms when suddenly, muffled giggling could be heard. Harry noticed that the supposing limp figure of Ginny was shaking and from Ron's murderous glare, he had noticed too.  
  
Ginny had pretended to faint when Ron accidentally hit her on her head. Harry laughed heartily at Ron who seemed to be having an internal battle with himself, whether to take revenge on Ginny or not. Harry guessed that the little angelic Ron had won when he didn't do anything to his sister, who was now screaming with laughter, except simply stare daggers at her. Actually, Harry had got hell of a shock by Ginny's fainting act but now; he found the whole matter a hundred times funnier.  
  
"Ginny's quite a character, both witty and sweet at the same time. One just can't not like her, can they? Nope!", Harry agreed with himself.  
  
Slowly, everyone left the hospital wing one by one, under Madam Pomfrey's murderous stare and Professor Dumbledore, who was brave enough to withstand the terrible death stare, was the last to leave the hospital wing.  
  
~@~@~@~@~@~  
  
Madam Pomfrey busied herself around Harry and Ginny, pouring out proportions of different potions into two goblets.  
  
"Your conditions are bad enough without you two sneaking out. What are you thinking? Broken wrist, high alcohol content in blood, potion poisoning and you two were playing in the Great Hall as if it's nobody's business. You might faint every few hours, did you know?" she clicked her tongue, a gesture of irritation and annoyance.  
  
"Tell me, what potions did you two take from yesterday till now? I need to know so as to be able to concoct the right antidote for the poisoning." She asked them.  
  
"I had the Pepper-Up Potion last night and both of us had the same thing again this morning. My mum gave it to us." Ginny replied timidly.  
  
"Molly? She's an excellent potion maker. Better than me, yes she is. She couldn't have made a mistake in brewing such simple potion such as the Pepper-Up Potion" Madam Pomfrey muttered under her breathe and paced around the small space between Ginny's and Harry's bed, racking her brains trying to get the answer behind the potion poisoning mystery.  
  
Ginny had a dreamy smile plastered on her face; she was shining with pride. Her mum is an excellent potion maker; even the infamous Madam Pomfrey acknowledges that.  
  
"Wow, that's my mum!!" Ginny was too engrossed and did not notice that Harry was also grinning silly to himself, thinking along the same line as her with the same pride in his chest.  
  
"IT MUST BE YOU TWO TROUBLE MAKERS" Madam Pomfrey bellowed suddenly, her voice echoed through the high ceiling hospital wing. Harry and Ginny who had spaced off for a moment, had a nasty shock. Their hearts almost jumped out of their mouth and they clenched their chest as their hearts hopped frantically around. Madam Pomfrey placed her face, which was a horrible shade of red right in front of Harry's, who swallowed the lump in his throat.  
  
"IT MUST BE YOU TWO TROUBLE MAKERS" she repeated, "WHAT ON THE SANITY OF MERLIN DID YOU TWO ATE AFTER YOU TOOK THE POTION?" she hissed like an angry cat, spraying Harry's face with spit but he dare not fidget a bit.  
  
"I.......... I.................. We...................." Harry started but he could not form a proper sentence under the matron's livid veined eyes  
  
"We..............We only had some snack off the trolley on the train" Ginny suddenly spoke and Madam Pomfrey immediately turned her attention away from Harry to Ginny and placed her round face horribly close hers.  
  
"We had a bit of the Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Borts Every Flavour Beans, Jumping Jello, Gummy Teeth, Liquorices Wand, Mini Mint Mice............." Ginny stopped upon seeing Madam Pomfrey's face, now turning from beetroot red to purple and gulped. The angry matron took a deep breath after reaching a nasty purplish blue shade and, Harry and Ginny winced horribly.  
  
"LIQUORICE WANDS? LIQUORICE WANDS? WHERE ARE YOUR BRAINS? WHERE DID THESE YEARS OF EDUCATION GO? DIDN'T YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CONSUME ANYTHING WITH ANY LEVEL OF ALCOHOLIC CONTENT AT LEAST TEN HOURS AFTER TAKING THE PEPPER-UP POTION" Madam Pomfrey roared and poked both Harry and Ginny on their heads with her thick fingers as she screamed her head off at them.  
  
"IT WAS BECAUSE OF THE BAT SALIVA USED DURING THE POTION BREWING PROCESS. IT'S IN THE GUIDE TO SAFE POTION USAGE, VOLUME ONE BY VIDO VANDADO, PAGE 73, CHAPTER 3, THE FIRST PARAGRAPH." She yakked on in her loud voice and both Harry and Ginny plugged their ears with their fingers.  
  
"AND YOU TWO TROUBLE MAKERS COULDN'T WAIT TILL TEN HOURS LATER BEFORE EATING THOSE HIGHLY FATTENING AND NOT TO MENTION, UNHEALTHY SNACKS. AND THE HEADMASTER ISN'T SETTING GOOD EXAMPLE TOO. OLD MEN LIKE HIM SHOULD TAKE GOOD CARE OF HIS TEETH AND THE SUGAR CONTENT IN HIS BLOOD, INSTEAD, THE HEADMASTER ALWAYS HAS A CANDY OR TWO IN HIS MOUTH.........."  
  
"Silenco", a voice cut the matron off and she could be seen opening and closing her mouth several times but no noise came out of it. Then she suddenly realised that she wasn't shouting anymore. All three of them turned to the direction of the entrance of the hospital wing where a tall figure stood.  
  
"I'm sorry Poppy but would you please keep your voice down? Most unfortunately, my office is right above yours and with you shouting, I could hardly get any sleep. I could cast a silence charm around my office but the students can't. They can't cast a silence charm strong enough to withhold your shouting and at this rate, you'll wake the whole castle" Professor McGonagall stepped out of the shadow into the light, in her flowery nightgown.  
  
"If you want to continue shouting at Mr. Potter and Miss Weasley for whatever they have done this time, please cast a silence charm around the hospital wing so that the rest of the castle wouldn't be disturbed." Madam Pomfrey seemed to deflate right in front of Harry and Ginny's eyes, the redness in her face faded at an alarming rate and finally stopped at a gentle pink. She apologised profusely to Professor McGonagall and walked her out of the hospital wing. She returned a while later still pink in the face and retreated back into her office.  
  
Harry and Ginny looked at each other shyly and quickly climbed into the comfort of the bed. Madam Pomfrey returned from her office some time later with a few more bottles of potions and poured them into the concoction she had made earlier. She shoved the goblets roughly into their hands and walked away without a backwards glance. They eyed the blood red potion with distaste and drowned them down in a single gulp without any complaint. To their horror, the potion tasted exactly like blood with the strong iron stench. As soon as the potion reached their stomach, they slumped back onto the bed unconscious; the goblet fell from their grasp onto the floor and shattered into a million pieces.  
  
"That'll teach you to sneak off, I don't think you two will wake before noon tomorrow. Good night!" Madam Pomfrey whispered to the night as she tucked them in, then retreated to her office after extinguishing the candles on the chandelier, leaving them snoring loudly in their sleep.  
  
She had done something Salazar Slytherin would have been proud of, lacing unsuspecting enemies' potion with strong dosage of sleeping draught. Despicable her ways might be but at least she do not have to worry about patients sneaking out until later the next day. Madam Pomfrey smiled to herself sadistically and retreated into the comfort of her office and retire for the day.  
  
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Thanks for you support!! I got 500 reviews for 23 chaps!! WOO HOO!! *open a champagne to celebrate * Please continue to support me!! Thank you!!  
  
A/N: All the names of the firsties are the names of my friends except Zax Wang, he is from a Taiwan boygroup called 5566.  
  
Extra information: Lavanya is an Indian girl age 23 Mynthi is a Myanmar girl age 33 Omar is a Malay boy age 21 ( I'm sorry I put in your age, pals but I think my readers might want to know. Hehe...) 


	25. Harry FatHead Potter

Here's another chap, hope it's fast enough!! I've already got the next chap of 2000 words out in my notebook waiting to be typed out, just to let you know!! The next update wouldn't be too long!!  
  
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It took Harry two days and cauldrons of the Blood Replenishing Potion and antidote to fully recuperate from the potion poisoning, Ginny took a day longer and cauldrons more of the potion and antidote before she was allowed to discharge, due to alcoholic complications. Nothing too interesting happened during their stay unless you count the incident where Mark went to visit with what seemed like the whole lot of the Gryffindor first years. The funny thing was that they were all hiding out of view behind Mark's small frame, during the whole visit.  
  
Ginny tried to be friendly by trying to engage in a conversation with them but all she got for response was a few squeaking and Mark rolled his eyes irritatedly everytime they did so.  
  
"They all begged to come with me when they got wind that I'm coming here, saying that they want to see the Harry Potter, as if you are some extinct animal in the zoo", Mark explained to them. "They are making a big deal out of me knowing you. I told them you are just Harry but they argued that you aren't just Harry, you are Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, famous in the wizarding world for defeating the dark lord when you were only a defenseless baby. I told them to get a grip and I'm not interested in whatever happened between you and the lord thingy, and you know what they said?" Mark paused and took a deep breathe for a dramatic effect. Both Harry and Ginny shook their shoulders to indicate that they had no idea, and he continued, "They say that I'm a nutter like you (Mark points at Harry) for not knowing about you and the dark lord. Danny, the boy who was also a muggle born, that word is muggle, isn't it? People with normal parents? Okay back to what Danny said. He said that even he knows everything about you and that lord guy, and I'm a fool to not know and not interested in it. Honestly, they are the ones who are nutters and talking about nut cases, they all said that the old bearded man who was supposed to be the headmaster was famous for being weird and nutters when he said something like 'Quack quack, let's us all now go to rest, the day had ended and the ducks are tired. Moo moo, the moon is hanging high on sky, let us all turn in and wake up a refreshed cow the next morning' at the feast." Ginny and Harry were sniggering, thinking that it was quite normal of Dumbledore to say something like that.  
  
"I personally think that he's pretty sane and cool. I mean, his hair and beard was that long enough for my old mamma to plait into little tails like what she always does to my baby sister's hair. Since he's sane to my standard, you can't be any worse, can you, Harry? Or will you bite my fingers off when you get short-circuit up there? (Mark did a screwing motion with his fingers at his head) I hope not, Harry, because my old mamma would like her precious son back with exactly ten fingers on each of his hands by the end of the day, thank you very much!" the three friends looked at each other and burst into laughter, their laughter echoed eerily through the hospital wing and the noise they made frightened all the unwanted visitors away.  
  
Rolling his eyes at the retreating backs of the scampering kids who were fighting head to tooth to get out through the narrow door, Mark made himself comfortable on an empty bed. The three of them joked, talked and laughed like old time, Mark ticked them off for not telling him their true identity sooner and they simply laughed at him, pissing him off and making him shout at them louder. The noise level got to an uncontrollable high level and it got onto Madam Pomfrey's nerves. In the end, the matron levitated Mark out of the hospital wing personally and she locked the door after him. Having got the hint that the matron was already annoyed, Harry and Ginny quickly lie back onto the bed and pretend to fall sleep.  
  
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Slowly, life went back to normal after Ginny and Harry got discharged. They retuned to their daily routine of waking up for the day, having breakfast with yawning students, going for boring lessons, sleeping or nodding off in class after a heavy lunch, more lessons and realised that they have got Gryffindor to lose ten points by the end of the day, dragging their feet to dinner and stuffing themselves up, tons of homework earned through the day, fall asleep on their book and resulted in having ink marks all over the face. Yes, that was the kind of boring life they were going through.  
  
Due to their busy life, the two of them hardly get to meet, let alone have the time to chat casually like they did during the summer. Even if they were in the same room, both of them would be too engrossed with work to notice each other's presence.  
  
It's Ginny's OWL year, she could hardly breathe through the mountains of homework set by the professors to help her prepare for her OWLs, though Harry was better off in the amount of homework he had to do, he never take the initiative to chat up with her. Ginny was greatly sadden by the fact that he could find the time to chat aimlessly with Ron and Hermione every night but couldn't get any time to even ask her of her well-being.  
  
Reluctant Ginny might be, she can't change the fact that they had returned to the kind of you-mind-on your-on-business-while-I-mind-on–mine relationship. Sometimes Ginny even wonder if the last summer, the happiest summer she ever had, was real or just a figment of a illusion, a dream, a wishful dream. Everytime she tried to catch Harry's eye, he would just flash her his heart capturing smile and turn away to continue his conversation with Ron and Hermione which left her with a more broken heart.  
  
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Time passed quickly and soon, it was already November and Ginny found Hermione, Harry, Ron, Andrew, Jack and herself, crowding at the fireside of the commonroom one night, discussing the reforming of the Quidditch team for the year.  
  
"Okay, guys!! (Several disapproving coughs coming from Hermione and Ginny) And not to forget, our honourable girls. (This time, Ron was the only who coughed but to his annoyance, Harry chose to ignore him) "As you know, the Quidditch season is drawing near and I, who was permitted to rejoin the team after Dumbledore lifted my lifetime Quidditch ban, was honoured to be appointed Quidditch captain. You'll find many of the familiar faces who used to fight battles with us side by side were all gone and there are only a few of us left, and clearly, we need more talented people in our team. Our advisor, Hermione, and I had decided to carry out a tryout to those said people." Harry paused for a while to look at every of them and carried on, "Now, we want to clear out some doubts, Ron will remain keeper, Ginny the seeker, you two (Harry pointed at Andrew and Jack) are beaters, and I have decided to take the position of a chaser...." Harry was interrupted when Ginny shot up her hand in the air in a very Hermione way, getting everyone's attention, "Yes, Ginny?"  
  
"I'll like to give up my position as a seeker and be a chaser instead"  
  
"No, you have proven yourself a great seeker in the match against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw last year. Though you are only a reserve seeker, temporary seeker, whatever you want to call it, last year, now I pronounce you the seeker and you are to keep that position. Okay, back to where I have stopped at earlier, so from the look of it, we still need two chasers before the team is considered formed. I've already informed Professor McGonagall that we will be carrying out the tryout on the fourth of October, any objections?" Ginny shot her hands into the air once more and everyone turned to look at her once more,  
  
"What more do you have to say, Ginny? Could you please don't interrupt Harry?" Ron retorted but Ginny ignored him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Harry but I don't see why I can't go for the chaser position. We can exchange position, you can be the seeker back and I'll be chaser, I don't see anything wrong with that."  
  
"This is Quidditch we are talking about, not some silly games where you can change your position as and when you please. This is the same as football; you can't change from being a goalkeeper to a striker. You understand me?" Harry raised his voice slightly, clearly annoyed for being cut off and that shut Ginny up nicely though she looked terribly livid with anger throughout the meeting. With hands folded at her chest, she kept shooting dangers at Harry and Ron.  
  
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"....................You understand me?" Ginny mimicked Harry's low voice and gave a series of empty laughter.  
  
"Why is he doing that to you?" Mark asked sympathetically as Ginny stabbed at her chop, imagining that it's Harry's stupid arrogant face.  
  
"He's an arrogant, fat head. Here I was trying to give the position back to him in the nicest way possible and there he was throwing it into my face. He was embarrassing me by suggesting that I'm not taking Quidditch seriously. Me,not taking Quidditch seriously? I hate you, fat head potter" Ginny mumbled under her breath as she attacked her new target of frustration, the apple pie.  
  
"I wouldn't believe it if it was another person who told me this. I mean, he used to be very nice. I never believed my old mama when she told me that the Potter boy whom I'm acquainted with is a hardcore hooligan, he is always so nice so nice and polite. I remember the summer before, he saved me from his dough of a cousin" Mark said while wincing as he watched Ginny savage the apple pie into something unrecognisable.  
  
"That doesn't change the fact that he's an arrogant fat head", Ginny said simply and Mark nodded his head in agreement so as to make Ginny feel better.  
  
"I've got to have a heart to heart talk to Harry about Ginny some time soon. I can see that she's pretty upset and hurt although she said all those horrible stuff about him. The mouth says it but the heart didn't mean it. I'll kick sense into him if I need to, I just can't simply watch him hurt Ginny and not do anything about it. Poor Ginny!" Mark thought to himself as he patted Ginny on her arms sympathetically. She was now trying to mix mashed potatoes with ketchup, fillings of the apple pie and everything that was in front of her and result was a brownish-red gooey stuff that gives out a smell unrecognisable but surely not pleasant to the nose. Mark had to gulp hard when Ginny threatened to empty them into Harry's cocoa that night.  
  
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"Beep..... beep...........", Harry blew his new captain whistle which was the shape of a broomstick and everyone hurried to fall in, except Ginny who took to stride slowly to the assembly area and stood at the farthest end from Harry. He saw Ginny's fiery redhead behind Ron, he knew that Ginny doesn't want to stay anywhere near him, in fact she didn't even want to stay in the same room as him, she no longer smile or greet him, but at that moment, Harry chose to ignore that fact.  
  
"Today is the tryout for the positions of chaser. I want everyone to play to his or her best, for I want to see if those people who came for the tryout could work together with us well. No fooling around and let's get up on air." Everyone mounted onto their broom and took off, just as Ginny was about to mount onto her cleansweep which passed down to her by Fred, Harry called her. She turned to look behind slowly to face Harry, eye to eye,  
  
"Yes, captain?" she asked, a tone of irritation and sarcasium thick in her voice.  
  
"Okay, Ginny, I want you to try those techniques we had devised during the summer ("Oh, now you remember we spent the summer together, arrogant boy?" Ginny thought bitterly). I wouldn't let out the snitch today, so I'll only need you to fly around as close to us as possible as you try out those stunts. Clear?"  
  
"Crystal, captain", Ginny said while mounting the broom and took off right in front of Harry without a back glance. Shaking his head, thinking what had he done to provoke her, Harry took off and spent a few minutes trying to get used to the new position, a chaser. After taking a few rounds in air as warm-up, Harry blew his whistle once more and everyone took their position.  
  
Hermione was sitting at the stand, a clipboard like the one Umbridge used to own, on her lap as she shout out the first tryout's name,  
  
"Guy Walters".  
  
A built and dark fifth year boy with dark blond hair walked out from the crowd of well-wishers, onlookers and potential tryouts and immediately took off into air with his chimney1500. He flew a few rounds around the stadium to get familiarise with the environment and stopped in still air in front of Harry, waiting for instructions. There was an aura of confident and arrogant in him, Harry liked his confidence but despise his arrogance, because it reminds him too much of Draco Malfoy, his archenemy.  
  
"Okay, let's not judge someone so fast. Let's see what is he made off, trash or talent?" Harry thought to himself and gave another deafening blow at the whistle. Everyone started to fly around, Mark released the budglers and they scurried dangerously near him as they passed, the big red clumsy Quaffle under Harry's arm and the game starts. Harry flew at great speed, looping pass the players effectively and threw the Quaffle at Walters who caught it easily. They continued dabbling it between themselves, steering away from crazy and well-aimed Budglers until they reached the scoring area guarded by Ron. Walters flew to the left and Ron imitate him and flew towards his right to guard the goalpost at the right when Walters suddenly gave the Quaffle a hard thrust to his right where Harry was and before Ron knew what had happened, a soft ting was heard: indicating the first goal.  
  
At the end of six games, three goals were scored, which means that the goalkeeper and chasers were doing their job well. It was the best performance compared with the next ten people who turned up for the tryout. Most of them either unintentionally knock the other players off their broom due to nerves, or was too afraid to throw out the Quaffle hard, causing it to lose speed halfway before it could reach Harry and fall to the ground. There were several cases where they fell from the broom before they were ten feet off the ground.  
  
Harry blew on his whistle twice, and everyone stopped whatever he or she was doing to crowd around him. The eleven tryouts stood a good distance outside the circle of crowd of team players and Hermione. All of them were either pacing around nervously or wringing their own hands while stealing looks at the crowd who were whispering among themselves, every now and then, except Walters. He was standing a good distance away from the players and tryouts, his facial expression show neither fear nor nerves, but plainly a look of irritation as he kept on glancing at his watch, tapping the ground with his feet impatiently.  
  
"Hem..... hem......." Harry cleared his throat and everyone laughed at his imitation of Professor Umbridge the most loathed Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts ever had. Harry waited good-naturedly for them to finish laughing and cleared his throat once more, getting everyone's attention this time. Harry felt his face getting warmer and he looked away from their eyes nervously as he spoke,  
  
"Thank you for turning up for the Quidditch tryout today. All of you did very well. ("You are lying downright, Harry. Even Hermione knows that they are gone cases." Ginny thought to herself as she noticed that Harry was blinking unnecessarily) But as there are only two positions, we are sorry that only two among you lots are in the team and they are Guy Walters and Frank Detour. Let's welcome them to our team!! (Everyone clapped politely) Once again, thank you for taking time to come for the tryout, hope there are more opportunities to work with you in the near future." Harry smiled nervously at the rejected tryout players' dejected faces and felt so sorry for them, in his heart he wishes that he could take in all of them but in real life, it's impossible. He had no choice but to watch them walk back to the castle with hung heads.  
  
Harry walked out of the changing room to see Walters still hanging around and he went up to him,  
  
"Welcome to our team, Walters. Hope we can work well together and win the Quidditch cup this year." Harry extended his arm to Walters who took it briefly before letting it go as if it's some dirty rat. He gave a hardly noticeable nod at Harry and walked away without saying anything. Harry was shocked of his hostile behaviour but he did notice that Walters had approached Ginny who was also hanging around the changing room, and they had walked back to the castle together. From the distance, he could tell that they were chatting animatedly; even an idiot could see that there were no signs of hostility in Walters' part towards Ginny.  
  
"I don't think I'm going to like that Walters guy. He is too cocky to my likings, he was the exact duplicate of Malfoy." Harry thought as he escort Ginny and Walters back to the castle with his eyes, "Hey, you can't have that kind of attitude towards your team mates if you want the Quidditch cup with your name this year", the angelic Harry in his mind chided. "Okay, okay!! For the sake of the Quidditch cup, I'll tolerate him, no matter what." the devilish Harry grumbled. "No doubt this is going to be another chaotic year" Harry sighed as he stride back to the castle in the orange sunset.  
  
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Another chapter with 3000 words. Wooo...... Hoooooo......... hope it's long enough and you like it. Any comments?? Review it to me!!  
  
Oh by the way, this chapter is unbeta-ed. My dear old beta reader is now busy with exams so I have to post this without beta or you have to wait for ages before my beta reader finishes his exam.  
  
Here I advertise for a temporily beta-reader, whoever is kind enough to help me for 2 mths or so before my beta reader comes back, pls email me or simply leave ur email add in the review!! Thanks!!  
  
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	26. Gryffindor VS Hufflepuff

stef granger – I think I didn't mention how harry got his wrist fixed so assume that it was healed by wand. And for the potion part, it is for curing his potion poisoning!! I'm crazy about the book too, I like the idea of following the book too!!  
  
Butler - I like ur description of Harry "dirt at the bottom of the ocean under a algae covered rock", it's so cool and funny!!  
  
The one above all / pottyfan / slivercrystal 77– yeah Harry is being a prick but dun misunderstand, he's not really bad. Actually he is letting Ginny have the position because he thinks she deserves it. He didn't want Ginny to give him back the position just because it's his in the first place. Quite confusing but hope u understand it. He didn't want to have the position back because he's harry potter, he respects people and didn't want to be treated differently. He's a bit big headed like his dad, isn't he? But which kid in earth aren't bighead? I like the similarity b/w him and his dad!!  
  
Nymphadora003 / Lourdes – read the AN above!! And guy is actually someone who's like malfoy. He detest harry because he's harry potter. He's full of himself and is only cold towards harry.  
  
Zigzag722 – read the AN above nymphie!!  
  
Jamiebell - I love mark too. I like him young and carefree but also mature in a way. He's full of mischief like the twins but he's a decent fren to harry and ginny. Maybe u'll think it's so weird a 11 yr old boy could be such good frens with 15 and 16 yr olds. But there are such people!! One good example: I'm good fren with a woman 33 yrs old and I'm only 21. we can understand each other well. We can joke and play around like kids in one moment and talk serious matters in the other.  
  
elizabethMM – I'm 21 for ur info but that doesn't mean I have to accept kissing but I just like idea of a simple and innocent love b/w 2 teenager. I like harry and ginny the traditional type of kids, I always think the wizarding kids are very conservative!! I like harry being a gentleman, I like ginny a lady!! In fact I really detest fics that have harry portraited like a lecher, wear streetwears and ginny protraited like a comman slut, wears make up, mini skirt, tube tops!! I go crazy when I read those stuffs!! THE WIZARDING WORLD IS TOTALLY OLD FASHIONED AND CONSERVATIVE!! NO GIRLS WEARING MINI SKIRT AND REVEAL ANYTHING!! NO GUYS WITH METAL CHAINS HANGING FROM BODY!! If u dun like my style u have to accept it, I'm not changing for all the cute guys in the world!! But endure me and love my plot!!  
  
Those I didn't mention doesn't mean I dun care!! I love u people too but if u want me to reply the next time, ask a question and I'll ans u!! there are just too many names to mention all!!  
  
You ppl should appreciate this chap cos it took me days to finish typing it because of some numbing problems of my hands. Don't know what had happened to my hands, they get numb and stiff when I type for too long. I can only type like a few hundreds of words each time. Maybe it's because of the wet weather, but anyway hope u'll like this chap. Most of it is humour, hope u enjoy it!! And hope the Quidditch scene is JKish enough for you!!  
  
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Time passed quickly, they had gone through several Quidditch practices, Walters was still arrogant about his Quidditch skills, and his aiming was improving to a point where it was almost perfect. The harmony between the chasers were united to the point that they knew what each other's next move was going to be. Frank was a nice person to be with and Harry could get along well with him, but he couldn't stand talking to Walters outside the Quidditch pitch.  
  
Ginny's flying skills had improved; the tactics they had devised during the summer were going well. Though scoring goals was much more exciting, Harry couldn't help having a kind of longing whenever he saw Ginny zooming around in the air trying out new stunts and eyes squinting for the golden ball.  
  
Speaking of Ginny, Harry recently realised that she had not been talking to him for a long time, she only talks to him during Quidditch practice, and then, she always call him 'Captain' or 'Senior' instead of Harry and with a tone of irritation in her voice. Clearly she was angry with him for a reason or two, but about what, he had no idea. After all, she is a girl, which bloke ever knew what girls were thinking? Harry wasn't interested in what Ginny's problem was, what he was most concerned about were Quidditch and Voldermort's plans. At the moment, he was only concerned about the Quidditch cup.  
  
The two beaters were not as dangerous as the former, infamous Weasley Twin beaters, but if you see it in the enemies' point of view, it was not too big an advantage. Ron's keeping skills were also improving, he had more confidence but he still needed lots of compliments and encouragement to boast his morale in doing better so as not to give up. On the whole, the team this year was a great one, according to the secretary advisor, Hermione's, calculation. The chance of Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup this year was 89.648%, a nice 4.852% higher than the usual 84.796%. Harry thanked his lucky stars that he could manage to get such great players when he was captain, unlike former captains, Oliver and Angelina, who were always on the verge of nervous breakdown during practises and matches.  
  
After all those tedious Quidditch practices under all conditions of weather, everyone was looking forward to the first match of the season, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, where they could put all those weeks of hard work and planning into use.  
  
"WELCOME TO THE FIRST QUIDDITCH MATCH OF THE YEAR, GRYFFINDOR VERSUS HUFFLEPUFF!!" There were deafening screams coming from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff stands while a few Weasley Wizard Wheezes' fireworks were let off in celebration.  
  
"I'M WILL LEO, YOUR NEW COMMENTER, HERE REPLACING LEE JORDAN, FRIEND OF THE INFAMOUS WEASLEY DUO, WHOM WE ALL LOVED" Professor McGonagall who was sitting beside him, had an expression which showed that she did not think likewise.  
  
"OKAY, GIRLS AND GUYS, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN OUT THERE, NO MATTER IF YOU ARE STILL SINGLE OR ALREADY ATTACHED. THOUGH GIRLS AND LADIES ALIKE WHO ARE STILL SINGLE ARE WELCOME TO LOOK ME UP. I'M A FIFTH YEAR GRYFFINDOR, 5 FEET 6 TALL, ROMANTIC AND .........."  
  
"NOT AGAIN!! LEO!!" Professor McGonagall snatched his magic microphone away and screamed at him. Though McGonagall's hands covered the microphone very well, her voice could still be heard loud and clear throughout the stadium.  
  
"SORRY PROFESSOR......... AND LET'S GET BACK TO WHERE I'VE STOPPED. AS I'VE SAID EARLIER, SINGLE GIRLS ARE WELCOME TO LOOK ME UP."  
  
"LEO!! IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP I'LL SHUT YOU UP, DO THE COMMENTARY PROPERLY!!" Professor McGonagall shouted again, she could not believe that Dumbledore had chosen Will Leo, a fifth year Gryffindor, as the new commenter. She had always thought that they could have a decent commenter this time, but things were not going her way. Clearly, Dumbledore thought that having a cheeky commenter was amusing but she did not think likewise and she was sure that Snape was not too glad about it either.  
  
"I'M SO SORRY, GOT DISTRACTED.......... HEHE.............. I PROMISE NOT TO DO IT AGAIN" Will laughed sheepishly.  
  
"WE SAW THAT THE TWO TEAMS ARE READY. LET'S WELCOME THE BEST QUIDDITCH TEAM IN HOGWARTS, GRYFFINDOR!!" Will's voice was covered by the loud boos from the rest of the school except the Gryffindors and he had to get away from his seat for a moment when bits and pieces of food, shoes and hats were hurled at him. He reappeared at the stand several minutes later, tousle- haired and with bits of chips in his light sandy brown hair.  
  
"SORRY FOR THE DISTRUPTION EARLIER. FOR SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION, THE QUIDDITCH TEAM THIS YEAR HAS TWO NEW CHASERS, GUY WALTERS AND FRANK DETOUR, OUR FAMOUS SEEKER HARRY POTTER HAS GIVEN UP HIS POSITION TO GINNY WEASLEY, THIS INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL GIRL WHO HELPED US WIN THE CUP LAST YEAR. POTTER HAS TAKEN UP THE DUTIES OF CAPTAIN AND CHASER. LET'S HOPE POTTER CAN PLAY CHASER AS WELL AS HE COULD PLAY SEEKER. LET'S PUT OUR WANDS TOGETHER AND WELCOME POTTER, WEASLEY, WEASLEY, WALTERS, DETOUR, KIRKE AND........... SLOPER!!" Will greeted them enthusiastically while trying to pick stray chips out of his hair.  
  
The stadium was brightened up by red and gold sparks as they flew out into the stadium, Harry flew a few rounds around the stadium and was about to fly to the back of the stadium when it suddenly hit on him that he was no longer playing seeker and he quickly took his position between Walters and Frank where they waited for the Hufflepuffs.  
  
"NOW, THE HUFFLEPUFF TEAM IS COMING. THEY ARE McPERSON, CARTEN, MILLER, D'COTTA, DOMINO, HOUTEN AND............. BRANCH". Will called out the names of the players in an uninterested tone and there was a deafening uproar came from the Hufflepuff stand, blue and yellow fireworks were let off.  
  
"SHOW OFFS!!" Will muttered sourly, but as he had forgotten to turn the microphone away when he making the comment, the whole Hufflepuff team heard him and he was bombarded with more food items and shoes. This time, it was Professor McGonagall's voice that rang through the stadium.  
  
"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE COMMENTOR!! ONE MORE OFFENSE AND THE WHOLE HUFFLEPUFF TEAM WILL HAVE DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!! AND LEO, SEE ME AFTER THE MATCH", the magic microphone was turned away and Will was seen talking animatedly to Professor McGonagall who was pointing a long finger accusingly at him. In the end, Will abandon his conversation with Professor McGonagall and sulked back to the commentary stand.  
  
"HERE GOES THE WHISTLE AND THE GAME STARTS!!" The pair of mad Bludgers were released, then the golden snitch, which Harry saw for a fraction of a second before it disappeared, and finally the red Quaffle. It was caught by Harry with ease who passed it to Frank who threw it to Walters, and before anyone could see properly at whose hands was the Quaffle, a soft ting echoed through the noisy stadium and the whole of Gryffindor stood up to cheer for their first goal.  
  
"TEN POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!!" Will shouted into the microphone. The game carried on with the same swiftness and in no time, the score was '150' to Gryffindor and '20' to Hufflepuff. Harry scanned through the sky for Ginny and saw her flying aimlessly around, looking for the snitch and he had also noticed that the Hufflepuff seeker wad doing the same, only that the look on his face was more determined and he was flying very closely to Ginny.  
  
During the time when Harry was distracted, Hufflepuff scored another goal. Harry quickly signal to Madam Hooch that he wanted a timeout, he touched down swiftly at one end of the pitch. The rest of the players saw him and flew down to join him.  
  
"Everyone's doing a great job and congratulations, we are '120' points ahead of the Hufflepuffs. But most important thing now is the Snitch; if they got it before us we still lose the game. So the plan now is, the rest of you do your jobs, blocking goals, scoring, knocking the crap out of them and Ginny, you carry on looking for the snitch but try not to stay too close to their seeker. I'll help you look for the snitch and you must get it first no matter what. Keep close tab on my location, once you see me flying at a direction with great speed, it means I've seen the snitch and you must follow me. But before it happens, I'll be flying around the stadium pretending to be waiting for Guy and Frank to pass me the Quaffle, I'll chase the snitch if I saw it but you are the one who'll catch it, you follow me? Overtake me, get the snitch and we win the game in a zap. Everyone understand? Ginny, you?"  
  
They shouted out a chorus of 'yes', did the usual hand cheer and everyone took off. Once on air, Harry gave Ginny a determined nod of the head, which she returned and they both set off in mission to look for the snitch.  
  
Ginny flew around the stadium frantically squinting her eyes as she scanned through the air for any glimpse of a golden flying object. The game continued with gusto, Gryffindor continued to score continuously plus a few stray goals done by the Hufflepuffs. Harry flew around within the area of Ginny's view, his eyes was concentrated in looking for the snitch too. The Hufflepuff seeker was busy searching at the left side of the stadium while Ginny and Harry were at the right.  
  
Harry gave Ginny a hand signal and lowered himself to scan through the lower half of the stadium.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN!!" Will's voice rang again. "HELLO HUFFLEPUFFS!! ARE YOU ALL ASLEEP ON YOUR BROOM?" he gloated and earned a well aimed Tickling Hex sent his way from the Hufflepuffs.  
  
"AH......... HA............ HA.......... STOP........... STOP IT........ I CAN'T COMMENT LIKE............ LIKE THIS..........." Will had disappeared out of view because he was lying on the ground, screaming with mirth. Professor McGonagall stepped over him and was seen shaking a fist at the Hufflepuff's direction before the spell was lifted and Will returned to the stand, his hair plastered to his face.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR SCORES AGAIN, 210 to 50!! COME ON GINNY; GET THE SNITCH AND SPARE US THE AGONY!! I'LL EVEN CONSIDER GOING FOR A DATE WITH YOU TO HOGSMEADE IF YOU GET THE DAMN THING FIRST. I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN HAVING A CRUSH ON ME FOR AGES........."  
  
"SHUT IT, JORDAN!!.......... NO, LEO!!.......... GET ON THE COMMENTARY!!" Professor McGonagall screamed, clearly she was in a state of confusion that she mistook Leo for Jordan, not that the two of them were different in personality.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at Will's comment and as his eyes were rolling around it's socket, he caught sight of a golden winged something dash past under the Hufflepuff seeker. Slowly and skilfully, Harry changed his direction casually so as not to attract unwanted attention to himself, but not taking his eyes off the nasty little snitch.  
  
Taking a quick peep at Ginny who was flying at the opposite direction above him, as fast as lightning, Harry chased after the snitch.  
  
"LOOK!! POTTER HAD FOUND THE SNITCH!! GET IT, HARRY!! Will cheered and everyone almost stopped moving to watch Harry zooming zigzag in the air, "NO WAIT!! IT IS AGAINST THE RULES FOR A NON-SEEKER CAUGHT THE SNITCH. OI HARRY, YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CATCH THE SNITCH!! YOU ARE NOT THE SEEKER ANYMORE, HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN!!" Will suddenly shouted.  
  
The Hufflepuff players would have stopped playing to watch Harry if not the game was still going on. Ginny who had seen Harry chasing the snitch before Will had even noticed, was trailing closely behind Harry and at a great distance away was the Hufflepuff seeker, who was also hot over heels behind Ginny. Ginny tried to overtake Harry and take over the job of chasing the snitch from him, but her broomstick which once belonged to Charlie, could not go any faster than the speed she was already going at. Looking behind, she noticed that the Hufflepuff seeker was closing the distance between them very quickly and by the looks of it, he would overtake Ginny in no time.  
  
"HARRY!!" she shouted and as if they had telepathy, Harry immediately flew back to Ginny and with his still fresh seeker reflexes, he plucked her out of her broom and set her side saddled on his broom as fast as lightning. Harry had one hands around Ginny's waist to prevent her from falling off and the other hand on the handle of his Firebolt, steering it towards the snitch, which had not been out of his sight all the while.  
  
Owing to Harry's superb flying skills and his Firebolt's incredible speed, they were getting closer to the golden snitch, throwing the Hufflepuff seeker behind miles away. Ginny had one hand clenching Harry's arm that was holding tightly onto her and the other stretched out at the snitch. When her fist was within reach to the snitch, she jerked forward, closed her fist and had the snitch clamped tightly in her little fist. Harry had wanted to scream out in triumph when something hit the broom at the side and the next thing they knew, they were thrown off the broom from a 10 feet height and landed face down on the grass pitch.  
  
Everyone 'ohhed' and 'ahhed' when they landed hard on the ground but everyone let out sighs of relieve when Ginny lifted up her head, her face full of grass. She gave a toothy grin, looked at Harry who had landed a short distance away from her, stirring from the fall, and pulled her gloved arms out from under her.  
  
"WEASLEY'S GOT THE SNITCH, GRYFFINDOR WINS!!" There was an immediate uproar from the Gryffindor stand and both Ginny and Harry were pulled off the ground by fellow team mates and were thrown into the air several times in triumph, the fluttering golden snitch could seen very clearly among the mass of heads; still beating hopelessly in Ginny's fist.  
  
"POTTER AND WEASLEY ARE A PREFECT PAIR, AREN'T THEY? ACCORDING TO THE LATEST GOSSIPS, IT WAS SAID THAT WEASLEY HAD SPENT A ROMANTIC SUMMER TOGETHER WITH POTTER. OUR RELIABLE GRYFFINDOR SPY HAD WITNESSED THEM HOLDING HANDS AND STROLLING IN THE PARK EVERYDAY IN THE SUNSET. THEY LOOKED SO IN BLISS AND SWEET TOGETHER" Will bellow through the microphone and Mark had the nerves to appear a bit sheepish at this but quickly overcome it (he was an active member of the Gryffindor Gossip Society). "IT SEEMS THAT OUR FAMOUS HEART THROB POTTER AND MESMERISING WEASLEY'S ADMIRER WHICH INCLUDES ME, WOULD BE HEARTBROKEN BY THE NEWS BUT ANYWAY, WELL-WISHERS WERE BEHIND THEM SUPPORTING THEIR RELATIONSHIP."  
  
Will rambled on but Professor McGonagall was too busy, jumping up and down at the teachers' stand, waving her hat to be bothered with him. Snape looked livid as he watched Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, who had conjured a lion at mid air which was roaring and shaking it's mane proudly.  
  
"WITH PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL'S GREAT LEADERSHIP, IT'S NO WONDER THAT WE WON. ER....... PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL, DO YOU THINK YOU ARE THAT KIND ENOUGH TO EXCUSE ME FROM SEEING YOU AFTER THE MATCH?" said Wills and almost everyone laughed at his exclamation.  
  
"OKAY, BACK TO SOME BACKSTAGE ACKNOWLEDGES. WE, GRYFFINDOR, WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR ADVISOR, HERMIONE GRANGER, THE MOST INTELLIGENT WITCH OF HER YEAR. ACCORDING TO THE GORGEOUS AND KIND GIRL, THE GRYFFINDOR QUIDDITCH TEAM THIS YEAR HAS GOT A 89.648% CHANCE OF WINNING THE QUIDDITCH CUP, A WHOLE 4.852% MORE THAN THE USUSAL 84.796%. SO LET'S KEEP OUR FINGERS CROSSED AND HOPE GRYFFINDOR WINS THE CUP AGAIN THIS YEAR. I THINK OUR DEAR PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL IS USED TO SEEING THE CUP SITTING ON HER DESK." said Will as he smirk at the Hufflepuff's crestfallen faces.  
  
"ANOTHER PIECE OF JUICY GOSSIP CONTRIBUTED BY OUR GRYFFINDOR EYE SPY. IT IS SAID THAT ANOTHER FELLOW CHASER, GUY WALTERS, IS ALSO INTERESTED IN OUR BEAUTY SEEKER, WEASLEY. SO IT SEEMED LIKE THERE IS A THIRD PARTY IN THE PERFECT 'PEASLEY' (POTTER AND WESALEY) RELATIONSHIP. IF I WERE YOU WEASLEY BROTHER, I'D TRY MY VERY BEST TO MAKE WALTERS GO THE OTHER WAY, AFTER ALL POTTER'S YOUR BEST MATE, ISN'T HE?" Will's commentary was getting more absurd and out of hand but no one's minding his nonsense because the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team had already carried both Harry and Ginny back to the common room on their shoulders, and planning what seemed like a through- night party.  
  
"SINCE WEASLEY'S TAKEN, HEY GRANGER!! WANT TO GO OUT WITH ME? I'M LISTED ON GRYFFINDOR'S TOP 10 MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR'S LIST, JUST A POSITION BEHIND RONALD WEASLEY AT NO. 5. IF YOU WANT TO, YOU CAN FIND ME AT.............." At where can Hermione find Will, no one knew, for she had cast a silence charm at him, leaving him gapping. Crossing her hands across her chest, Hermione leaned against the gate coolly to admire her masterpiece for a moment before retreating into the cool shades of the castle.  
  
"LEO!!! DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK AND NO EXCUSES!!""  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
It's quite hilarious if u ask me!! Hope u enjoy this for it took me days to finish typing it!!  
  
Read and review and I've got a poll to carry out:  
  
Do you want more of mark in action or Ginny in action? Do you want Ginny to give her position back to Harry? Do you want more of Guy Walters in action?  
  
I'm having a BLOCK for the next chap and I hope u will give me some suggestion on how the story shall go. Your every word is important!! 


	27. The Muggle Duel

Review responses:  
  
The one above all: I don't really understand what you mean by taking Guy down a few pegs. Do you mean for me to hang him up with a few pegs? Haha...  
  
Katani petitedra: Yeah Leo is much worse than Jordan and that's why Dumbledore chose him as the new commenter. I think that kind of commenter, who shots their mouth off, kind of amuses him. And oh, I didn't know that you own a Leo too. It's just a name I came up with sorry if I 'copied' your character. But you can't shove him off the stage right?  
  
Aagwyn: Harry will have his position back, you mark my word. Oh but I don't think Ginny will get romantically involved with Guy Walters. I don't plan to have that, it's too common if you ask of me, that kind of plot. But Walters has good feeling about Ginny, he will be very nice and friendly to her. I have something more powerful in my plot, not that kind of fluffy plot. Trust me, the later chap will be developed into something else.  
  
Monalex potter: yes, I do plan to let Harry get his position back in one- way or another.  
  
Butler: I'm so glad you liked my story.  
  
Siriusly deliricious: best chap so far? I'm blushing!! This is one of my favourite chapter!! Leo is cool, because he is supposed to be cool.  
  
Maria: actually I'm trying to write this fic in JK's thinking. The characters will not be too out of character you see!! But since my writing style is not too similar to JK's I don't really mind, as long as you like it nothing else matters. Guy and Ginny will not be together, remember, Ginny still likes Harry. And the romance will only be seen in the last few chapters!!  
  
Baseballkid: more background about Walters? But he isn't very important, you see!! He's just there because he needs to be there to play chaser. And maybe do a bit damage here and there!!  
  
Mad scientistII: glad you like this a lot. But you sure you aren't mad when you said this?? Haha... kidding!!  
  
Raie: Harry and Ginny aren't going to be gal and boy friend too soon. Will be in last few chapters!  
  
Lola: glad you like it. I like to write humorous stuff, make myself laugh!  
  
Princesscici: hey gal I tried to email some inside news to you but your email rejected me!! Want to tell you something about the story privately!!  
  
Iamko demon wolf: hey Tanya, thanks for the support!! I love you fren, love you lots ???: Ginny isn't mad at Harry any more. Though how mad she is, she'll forgive him somehow because she adores Harry. One cant stay mad at the person she loves for too long!!  
  
Grip of chaos: he he... I like the double seeker thingy too. And as for your wish for Ginny to be with Harry, I'll grant it soon enough!! Patience is a virtue!!  
  
Nightwing: glad you enjoy my story. Updating soon enough but have a bit of block will be cleared soon enough.  
  
Roidium: I don't intend for Mark to be anything in the team. I don't want him to be the youngest seeker or chaser or stuff like that. He's a bit like Harry don't you think so? He's not a scardy cat, brave and everything, just like Harry but he's not going to be a player. I mean he's only year one, and a muggle, how can he know how to fly a broom? Walters suck in attitude towards Harry because he despise him as the boy-who-lived, but otherwise, he's a nice person and a good player.  
  
Nymphadora: I like your plot, I might just use it. Guy will be hitting on Ginny as in too friendly but no romance. As you see Harry is a bit unhappy=jealous that guy is so nice to Ginny.  
  
Maclir: I hope Harry sees himself as a prat like his father used to be. He is arrogant but he doesn't know he is. He is already arrogant in book 5, he thinks he's better than Ron, remember? But mark will show him what a git he is!!  
  
Silvercrystal: I like the way Ginny and Harry catch the snitch too. You never expected that? That's what I'm trying to do. A surprise for every. Once a seeker always a seeker, so Harry gets back to the seeker mode fast.  
  
Kneh13: glad you like it. I do read your fic too!!  
  
Gaul: glad you like it  
  
Carrie: You are a really harsh reviewer!! You don't settle for anything. You spot minor things and that's why your review is being taken very seriously. What you say isn't good, I try to change. I don't think French is gross, but if it's to my characters and me I think it is. So guys out there don't try to French me because I might just bite your freaky tongue off. Haha....  
  
Sabs: I have more mark for you and Harry is going to get Ginny soon.  
  
Jamiebell: Harry will get his position back. He will not show that Ginny is the one for him, he will know in his heart that she is. The golden words is "when you lose something important, then you will know it's actually important in your heart". hint I'm taking a page out of JK's book, hinting!!  
  
Harry's lost twins: Ginny is always in action. And I think this chap is funny too. I laugh too when I read it.  
  
Okay, end of review responses. This chap is dedicated to everyone who loves this story and the Backliner, come back to us soon when u finished the exams. This chap isn't too good, a bit-boring if you ask me, but the later ones will be better. Enjoy!!  
  
"Hey, watch your way, idiot!!"  
  
Ginny walked around the corner on her way back to the Gryffindor common room with her hands fully laden with food nicked from the kitchen when she bumped into someone accidentally as the mounts of foodstuff piled like small mountains in her arm were obstructing her view in front. The impact of the knock caused several items to fall from her arms; bottles of Butterbeer, packets of chocolate éclairs, cakes and pastries scattered all over the floor.  
  
Looking up from the badly littered floor, Ginny gasped when she saw that it was Malfoy, flanked by his two burly bodyguards as usual, she had walked headlong into. He was scowling at Ginny with his nose wrinkled up high in the air in disgust as if Ginny was nothing short of a piece of bad smelling trash under his nose; a good impression of his mother during the World Quidditch Match two summer ago.  
  
"Tst tst, so it is the Worthless Weasel! I knew you don't have brains but I didn't know you don't have eyes. What do you think you are doing, bumping into me, soiling my best silk shirt with this rubbish?" Malfoy's eyes narrowed accusingly at her and Ginny knew that he was also surveying their surrounding at the same time, his eyes took in the scene in front of him; Ginny with her arms half full with food and the floor littered with more food. "Celebrating the latest victory? Ha... Resorting to stealing food from the kitchen for the celebration!! Is the whole Gryffindor as rich as your family?" Malfoy looked over his Crabbe and Goyle started to laugh feebly themselves. "Do you need to send home the leftovers from the supposed party to feed that portly mother of yours? I heard that you and your brothers sent home leftovers from the banquet after every meal to help support your family."  
  
Ginny snapped up her head angrily to look at Malfoy in the eye, she had never felt so humiliated in her whole life. Her family wasn't wealthy in the wizarding world but at least the name Weasley earned respect from the rich and poor alike, and here Malfoy's taunting them like they are nothing but a pack of dirty beggars. Though she was trying hard to stop the tears from overflowing from her eyes, they still fell.  
  
"Aw... someone's crying like a baby," bellowed Malfoy, for Crabbe and Goyle to hear and he then pretended to bawl like a spoilt brat, "Did I just touch a sensitive spot? I'm so sorry to remind you of your inferiority." He said but he wasn't at all sorry, in fact he was gloating. "Oh, to express my apologies, do feel free to come over to the Slytherin common room to collect leftovers. I dare say we have loads." Tears were now streaming down her flawless face like waterfall but she simply stood at her ground, not being able to move though she would very much like to hex Malfoy so badly that his mother wouldn't be able to recognise him after she was done with him. Malfoy seemed satisfied with the kind of reaction he got from her, he shoved Ginny aside so roughly that her shoulders hit the other side of the wall and all the food that managed to stay on her arms from the previous ordeal, all fell out of her arms and hit the ground like rainfall.  
  
Malfoy laughed openly as he walked away with the two troll look-alikes at either side of him, Ginny was staring at his retreating back furiously when he suddenly turned back and shouted something to her loud and clear, "Oh and did I mention to you how you suck at Quidditch? You and your brother were fated to have Pottyhead to save your ass in Quidditch. If I were you, Weasel, I'll quit from the team to save myself from further humiliation. As you have proved earlier, you don't have eyes." After he had made his point, he continued his journey to whatever his destination might be.  
  
After Malfoy and his gang's shadow had disappeared around the corner, Ginny slide down the wall and broke down completely.  
  
! ! ! ! ! ! !   
  
Harry was helping himself to the table full of food and drinks Dobby had kindly prepared for them in celebration of Gryffindor's victory, when Ginny, who had offered to do the job enthusiastically earlier, returned empty handed, apologised to them and disappeared up the winding stairs leading to her dormitory looking a bit pale. He was piling his scarlet coloured plate with chicken drums when he felt a light tap on his shoulders, he looked back his shoulders and was shocked to see a pale and puffy eyed Ginny with tell tale signs of crying on her face, looking up at his recent-gained tall frame.  
  
Harry felt a chill in his heart, immediately for sake his plate and lead Ginny firmly by the arms to one of the puffy armchairs in front of the fireplace.  
  
"What happened, Ginny? Not feeling well?" Harry asked softly as he leaned towards Ginny who had sank deeply into the squashy armchair, still holding her arm. Their differences were forgotten for the moment. Ginny looked up to meet Harry's worry- filled emerald eyes with her cloudy brown ones.  
  
"Ha... Harry..." she started and Harry nodded his head to encourage her to go on, "I.... I......... want to quit the team". Harry seemed a bit shock, it wasn't the kind of thing he thought Ginny wanted to tell him, he expected her have come to her senses and apologise for being cold towards him for the past few weeks or things like that, but requesting to quit from the team was the last of the list that Harry think she would want to tell him.  
  
"What? Why? You are doing great. You did a great job, just now! Why the urge to quit all of a sudden?" he asked.  
  
"No I didn't do anything this afternoon. I didn't even spot it let alone chase it. All I did was take it, and it such a simple job that even Goyle could do it with no problem. I've got no chance against the other seeker on my shooting star. Your supposed seeker can't do the job, what a joke!" Ginny sounded hysterical and gave a series of 'ha ha ha' before adding on, "perhaps Malfoy's right, I better quit now to save myself from further embarrassment and also to let a better person be seeker." Ginny's voice was getting higher and higher by the minute and she suddenly broke down. Patting her arm sympathetically, Harry could feel a lot of stares on them from the rest of the students. From the corner of his eyes, Harry swore he saw Ron look up at them from his mountain high pile of food with suspicious eyes, his muscles all tensed up.  
  
Harry was feeling frantic in front of a sobbing Ginny; he was never good with crying girls. He tried to hush Ginny and yet appear innocent at the same time but failed terribly. The common room was suddenly so quiet that Harry felt goose bumps crawl up his arms, he somehow felt as guilty as a cheating boyfriend with his girlfriend. Using his final resort, Harry agreed to let her quit the team and to his great surprise, she stopped crying immediately except for a sniff here and there; it happened to fast that it's almost like pressing a button to make her stop.  
  
Busy congratulating himself for successfully hushing her up, Harry didn't noticed the flash of something in Ginny's eyes that suggest that he didn't really please her with what he had agreed to, as he thought he had.  
  
Everyone's eyes moved away from them and they resumed whatever they were doing earlier, Ron included. Looking at Harry with an indescribable sad expression, Ginny said with difficulty in between hiccoughs,  
  
"Th... hic... thank.............hic......... you Harry.......... Hic.............hic...i'll...........ha........hic........handinthe............hic...........resign..........hic.........natio n..........hic........letter..............hic............hic......to............morrow.........."  
  
She gave Harry what seemed like a smile, so sad a smile that Harry 's heart went out to her. Ginny took a deep breath and sat there for a few minutes (to collect herself, Harry reckons) before retreating back to he comforting dormitory, leaving them to their partying.  
  
After Ginny left, Harry was still sitting in his chair and appearing to be brooding over something-Malfoy.  
  
And unknown to Harry and Ginny, someone was watching them from a dark corner of the room at a hearing distance from them during the whole episode. And that particular someone wasn't too pleased with the scene that unfolded in font of him earlier.  
  
!!!!!!!!!  
  
After that incident that night, Harry and Ginny were on friendlier terms, although it wasn't the same as before, but at least there wasn't glaring and avoiding on Ginny's part. Both of them were pretty comfortable with being nice to each other again, too nice if you ask me.  
  
Gryffindor Quidditch team hadn't resume their practice, Harry had decided that they all deserve a short break as a reward for winning their first match, since there weren't any Quidditch practice, no one except Harry and Ginny themselves, not even Ron or Hermione knew that Ginny was officially out of the team. Harry had conveniently forgotten to mention that to Ron and Hermione because one, he had planned to talk things out with Ginny one day, seeing if she would change her mind about the decision before announcing anything. Two, he had one day 'accidentally' added something to Malfoy's potion causing it to explode in his face and being the only one who laughed when it happened, he was immediately identified as the culprit to the 'accident'. He was severely punished for that, and Snape saw to it that he got his life's worst detention ever for trying to do his favourite student in.  
  
For the past week, Harry had been spending every evening in detention with Snape, leaving him hardly any time to do his homework and naturally, he was so busy juggling between endless and demanding detention, and tons of homework set by impassionate teachers that he had forgotten about Ginny.  
  
One Friday evening, after a particular nasty detention, cleaning the toilet that happened to be haunted by Moaning Mrytle, who most unfortunately wasn't too great a company and he happened to meet Peeves on his way there, who was too kind to keep him company. He returned to the common room with a temper that could match Snape's, smelling like a walking toilet, dripping wet to the skin (Peeves had thought trying to drown him in a flooding toilet as amusing) and tried with many aching muscles from cleaning the toilet manually without magic. As he was about to stride towards the stairs, someone stood in his path. Mark.  
  
"Go away, Mark. I've got no energy to play with you, or whatever you want me to do. Go pester someone else!" Harry retorted at him irritated, not caring to be polite and tried to walk away form him when Mark blocked his way yet again.  
  
"I want to talk to you regarding Ginny" Mark stubbornly insisted.  
  
Not feeling too friendly and sociable at the moment, Harry pushed mark away and continued towards the stairs. Mark wasn't giving up so easily, he chased after Harry and stood in front of him again but this time he had got hold of the sides of Harry's robe and pulled him closer causing him to stumble a bit before being pulled down into a half bow.  
  
"Knock it out, I'm not interested in talking about Ginny now" Harry bellowed and his loud voice caught everyone's attention. Almost everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch them in amusement, a towering sixth year boy-who-lived and a tiny first year boy. Ron and Hermione were at the scene too and both of them had knocked over the chairs they were sitting in, in the hurry to get to them.  
  
Harry pried Mark's fingers off his robe and reached into his robe for his wand but before he had closed his fist over the end of his wand, a loud sickening crunch rang in Harry's ear and the next time he knew, he was lying on his back with his nose running. Mark had collided his fist against Harry's face and broke his nose.  
  
A rush of white-hot anger spread up Harry's spine, he felt like another person. He had lost all his logic, he felt nothing but red fiery anger and all he wanted at the moment was to hurt this boy in front of him as much as possible, maybe blasting him across the room would be great. Harry was about to chant the incarnation when his wand was snatched away from him and two figures pinned him onto the wall. On the other hand, Mark was almost lifted off the ground by Dean and Guy who are holding onto him by the arms, and by the looks as it, he was also fighting tooth to nails to break free.  
  
A lot of students were now crowding around them in a circle, pointing and whispering among themselves. Harry and Mark were shouting and cursing each other with occasional shouts of 'fathead' and 'idiot boy', Hermione tried to calm them but to no avail, they didn't even acknowledge her presence. Finally, Hermione being the one with the clearest head, cast a silencing charm on them. They opened and closed their mouth several times before they realised that voice had been deprived from them, they glared angrily at Hermione who shrugged her shoulders helplessly at them. In the midst of confusion, no one noticed that Lavanya had sneaked out.  
  
Harry could hardly breathe through the thick and warm blood that was flowing out from his broken nose. Ron and Frank, who were pinning him, took pity on him and loosen their grip on him to let him nurse his nose when he was gasping for breath. The moment Harry felt the pressure on his chest gone, he lunged himself at Mark and was about to raise his hand but he was pulled back in the middle of a potential punch well aimed at Mark's face, Harry's hand only managed to gaze against mark's skin and left a set of bloody scratch mark at the side of his face. Ron and Frank pinned Harry back onto the wall, this time they exert more force on him to keep him still.  
  
At that moment, the portrait at the opening to the common room swung open.  
  
Guess who is it? It's............. you think I will tell you? Guess!! Oh and please review, I love reading your reviews, it makes my day!! 


	28. The Confrontation By Ginny

**Disclaimer: I, Lau Hui Ling, do not own any Harry Potter related names, characters or merchandise. Joanne Kathleen Rowling is the genius behind them. I'm merely borrowing her characters for some fun, and hope she wouldn't mind.  
  
Hiya, no reviewer responses because I got no time to do so. I'm so busy writing this chapter and also to wallow in my own despair.  
  
You might be wondering why it took me that long this time to update. Here I apologise, life had been chaotic for me.  
  
One, I'm now employed and the bloody job took too much of my energy and time. I'm beat dead everyday when I got home.  
  
Two, I am currently trying to recover from an operation. It was an emergency case and it happened not too long ago. I had 3 holes opened in my stomach to have this ridiculously huge water lump taken out of me. The pain was so bad that I can't sit in front of my PC to type this fic out until now.  
  
Now, with me feeling slightly better, here is the chap and hope you enjoy!!**

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"Ginny!! Ginny!!"  
  
She heard someone call her name from behind her as she was on the way returning to the common room after a nasty detention with Filch. Turning her head to the source of the voice, she saw Lavanya running towards her. She stopped in her track as Lavanya ran towards her and stopped in front of her, panting like a cow.  
  
"What happened? A hundred gnomes attacking my bed?" she asked humourlessly, Lavanya shook her head and tried to regain her breathe, clutching the stitch at her side at the same time. "A thousand love letters on my bed?" she suggested but Lavanya shook her head again. "Ron being eaten up by a giant spider?" she asked expectantly. Lavanya shook her head again and this time Ginny got frustrated. "Then what is it?" she snapped at her winded friend.  
  
"It............ It's Harry.......... and Mark... They are......... duelling in the common room," she said in between sharp intakes of breath.  
  
"WHAT??" Ginny need no second telling, she tossed her bag into Lavanya's chest carelessly, knocking the air out of her and sprint to the common room as if her life depended on it.  
  
Ginny climbed into the portrait hole breathing heavily from the run and the bloodiest scene greeted her. There was Harry, bleeding heavily from the nose, dyeing his blue-checkered shirt red, being restrained by Ron and Frank. Ginny turned to her right to see a wild looking Mark with a set of claw-like mark on his face and small patches of blood on his white tee- shirt, in an arm lock by Guy and Dean.  
  
"Just what in the name of Merlin are you two doing?" Ginny bellowed and advanced menacely at Harry and Mark with her wand in hand, the crowd of onlookers backed away to let her pass. She looked into the two guilty faces but they didn't reply her, only looking away from her gaze.  
  
"Oh thank God, Ginny you are back!!" Hermione hopped on the spot merrily, clutching her hands together, looking so relieved to see her. "We couldn't stop them, and they were fighting most dangerously", Ginny gave her a nod of the head to encourage her to carry on.  
  
"We, as in Ron and I, were doing our Potions homework when suddenly there were shouts coming from the centre of the room. It was Harry and Mark, they were arguing furiously at the top of their voices, attracting our attention. Mark was insisting on talking to Harry about you but he didn't seemed to want to. Then there were some struggling between them and the next thing we know, Mark had punched Harry in the face, broke his nose as a result..."  
  
Hermione reported the whole incident in such a detailed manor that one would have thought she had mesmerised what to say. It took her five full minutes to finally conclude the whole matter, Ginny couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes; trust Hermione to be able to explain things in full details in times of urgency.  
  
Ginny offered a polite thanks to Hermione for letting her understand the situation before walking over to Harry and Mark, and stood between them. Harry looked away pinching his nose with the bottom corner of his sleeves, trying to hide the state of his nose from her. Ron and Frank had let go off him, sensing that he wouldn't do anything rash in the presence of Ginny. Harry might not care much of her presence but surely he wouldn't be as stupid as to attack Mark, whom Ginny adores, in front of her. Mark hadn't been restraining the hold on him since Ginny's presence, and thinking along the same line as Ron and Frank, Guy and Dean let go of him as well. Mark was staring at the patches of Harry's blood, which managed to stain his cloths during the struggle, refusing to meet her eyes.  
  
Knowing that they were purposely avoiding the question, Ginny decided to approach it,  
  
"So what is it about me that caused this?" Ginny questioned while pointing at the blood that covered each boy.  
  
Everyone in the room turned to look between Harry, Ginny and Mark, like watching an exciting table tennis match and when they both stuttered inaudibly, she gave a loud 'Hmm' to prod them. Harry was the first to break under Ginny's stare,  
  
"I don't really know. He's the one who wanted to talk about you in the first place." Harry addressed Mark like someone he hardly knew and Mark looked a bit flustered that the wand was pointed back at him, he tried to say something in his defence but only managed a few squeaks. Ginny stared hard at him and said a 'yes?' to him which managed to get something sensible out of him.  
  
"I.............. I.............. Wanted to talk to him about you quitting Quidditch." Everyone gasped to hear that their star seeker is out of the Quidditch team, Ron included, he looked like he wanted to say someone but Ginny beat him to it.  
  
"It's my own decision, no one forced me to. It's not Harry's fault that I'm lousy at Quidditch," said Ginny, her tone now was flat and emotionless as if she couldn't stand to be reminded of the fact again.  
  
"But I thought Harry wouldn't let you, I thought that if he really cared for you, he wouldn't let you quit. But now things have proved to me that he's nothing but a creep. He has hurt you so much and I thought I'd teach him a lesson about how you deserve to be treated," Mark spat in distaste in Harry's direction.  
  
The more Harry listened, the more confused he became. What is it about that him hurting Ginny? He doesn't remember doing anything to hurt her and moreover they were only in talking terms recently. What on earth was that Mark Evans talking about? Harry was more confused when Ginny nodded her head in comprehension, was it some code language only Ginny and that small git understood?  
  
"I know you care but it's not the way to solve the problem, Mark. Resorting to muggle duelling! No matter what you do, you can't change the fact that I completely suck at Quidditch."  
  
"NO, YOU ARE NOT!!" both Mark and Harry shouted out at the same time and after realising that, they both looked away sheepishly.  
  
"You are the best seeker I've ever seen!"  
  
"Whad Balfoy said is dot true ('what Malfoy said is not true')!" Mark and Harry spoke up at the same time again and everyone in the room laughed at them.  
  
"Yeah, best seeker you've ever seen. Honestly, how many have you ever seen in your pathetic life? The fact is only two, one is me and the other is the Hufflepuff seeker," Ginny said to Mark and then in turn to Harry.  
  
"I know myself. I'm lousy. Malfoy didn't do anything wrong, he only... Er... kindly remind me of that fact"  
  
"God, Giddy. You rader belieb dat slibby gid den us! ('God, Ginny. You rather believe that slimy git than us!')" Harry retorted, and Mark nodded his head vigorously in agreement; in fact he's nodding his head so dangerously that Ginny was afraid that he might sprain his neck. "I agwee wib bark. You are a gread seeger, id fad wad ob de bed and dob't you trud dat I'b seed bore den bark id by libe, dod you? ('I agree with Mark. You are a great seeker, in fact one of the best and don't you trust that I've seen more than Mark in my life, do you?') "  
  
Everyone laughed heartily again, if not that Harry was pinching his bleeding nose and his speech impaired because of that, his tee shirt dyed red by his own blood at the upper half; they might have thought that the scene playing in front of their eyes was just a conversation between friends after a tired day, not after a fight.  
  
Hermione looked as if she was just enlightened by someone unseen by others, her face suddenly lit up with excitement in her eyes.  
  
"So, Harry, is that why you sabotaged Malfoy's potion that day!" she exclaimed out loud suddenly and everyone jumped a foot in the air.  
  
"What do you mean sabotage?" Ginny asked curiously.  
  
"Malfoy's potion exploded in his face during potions last Monday. Everyone was so shocked that no one moved except Harry, who was laughing like a manic upon seeing malfoy's face, full of poison looking acne. I didn't suspect that it was Harry, I thought he's simply amused and tickled by Malfoy's face. We would have been laughing along side him had we not been so surprised by the sudden explosion. And Snape, as usual put the whole blame on Harry, giving him a week worth of detention. Honestly, we all could have been hurt; Malfoy could have been permanently disfigured. It's lucky he only drop a rat's tail into the Skelegrow potion; if he added an eel's eye instead...." Hermione gave a dramatic intake of air before continuing, "The whole castle could have been blown to pieces," She then gave Harry a very disapproving look that, unfortunately, had no effect on him.  
  
Those nearest to Harry reached over to clap him on his shoulders to congratulate him in successfully sabotaging Malfoy, whom was commonly detested by the Gryffindors.  
  
Ginny was now looking at Harry with wide unbelievable eyes, she almost couldn't believe that he had done all that and earned a week's worth of detention with the teacher who's on the top five of his 'to-kill' list, all because of her. She wanted to speak but words failed her; her vision was blurring as tears filled her eyes, but she forced herself to blink them back. After that incident when she broke down completely in front of Malfoy, she had sworn that she would never embarrass herself again by crying in front of a crowd.  
  
"So, all misunderstandings cleared? Everyone friends again?" Hermione asked hopefully. Harry nodded his head but Mark didn't think things were better.  
  
"No," he said defiantly.  
  
"What more do you want?" Hermione asked in exasperation  
  
"Not until Ginny's back in the Quidditch team", he replied. Ginny's face reddened to a shade called crimson, she was embarrassed. She really appreciated Mark's persistence and all things he had done for her but she don't think she need anyone to take care of her well-being, let alone someone four years her younger. She never wanted to eat her words like an unreasonable four year old, a Weasley never eat there words; what's said is considered done and they don't take back what they had given up.  
  
"What do you think, Ginny?" Hermione asked Ginny. Ginny felt under a lot of pressure with all the people waiting for her to accept her position back.  
  
"I don't... don't know", she stuttered in audibly.  
  
"She wants the chaser position," Mark injected out loud to the room and there was an immediate silence, "She prefers that to seeking. I bet she'll be the best chaser I've ever seen," mark piped excited causing Harry to snigger loudly.  
  
"You haben seed bady chasers, hab you? How bady exadly? Leb be do de calculatied for you, less den egg, I'd gued! ('You haven seen many chasers, have you? How many exactly? Let me do the calculation for you, less than eight, I'd guess!)" Harry teased and mark physically tense up at his teasing.  
  
"Don't go back there again, guys!" Hermione ordered and quickly stood between them with her arms stretched out to prevent them from lunging at each other again.  
  
Harry smirked at Mark over Hermione's shoulder causing the younger boy to narrow his eyes. After having being satisfied with the reaction from Mark, Harry steped out from the corner and clapped his hands twice to get the desired attention on him.  
  
"O-gay, gweefiddor qweeditch dim, everyone hear be? I addoun dat gidy's officially oud ob de dim as seeger ('Okay, Gryffindor Quidditch team, everyone hear me? I announce that Ginny's officially out of the team as seeker') ", as expected, there was an immediate uproar of disagreement and Mark looked ready to rip Harry's throat out and was only prevented by Ron and Frank you strategically positioned themselves between him and Harry. Harry turned to look at everyone and lowered his hands to indicate for them to quite down.  
  
"Add I'b officially oud ob de dim as chaser ('And I'm officially out of the team as chaser') ". If the previous uproar was thunderous, this one was as loud as if the sky was falling down. Harry hold up his hands once again to hush them down.  
  
"Here I'd libe do idroduce do dew the pebson whb wilb be tabking by blace, Giddweasdey! ('Here I'd like to introduce to you the person who will be taking my place,. Ginny Weasley!')" He pointed at Ginny who looked thunderstruck; "de dew chaser and Harry bodder ('The new chaser and Harry potter')" Harry pointed at himself gleefully "as de dew seeger! ('As the new seeker!')"  
  
Everyone cheered and the rest of the Quidditch team rushed over to congratulate their team mates on their new positions, telling them that is took them long enough to figure it out. Harry grinned cheekily around and he lost a bit of his head when he saw that Guy had his hand on Ginny's shoulder a few second longer than it needed to be. He was trying to push his way towards them to 'save' Ginny from Guy, not realizing that she didn't have a problem with his hand being on her shoulder. Frank prevented Harry from doing anything he would regret later.  
  
"O-gay, beoble, it's gedding lade. Do bed, all ob you...do bed......... ('Okay people, it's getting late. To bed, all of you... to bed...'), Harry have to shout to make himself heard over the crowd. Everyone, exhausted by the evening's excitement, needed no second telling and soon everyone retreated into the comfort of their dormitory, leaving only Hermione, Harry, Mark, Ginny, and Ron staring at each other. "Okay. Everyone friends again?" Hermione asked for the second time that day.  
  
"Yeah, of course!"  
  
"Yeah, ob couse!" exclaimed Harry and Mrk. Even the usually oblivious to his surroundings Ron noticed the similarity between the two dark haired boys in front of him. Both are dark haired, full of courage to stand up to what they think is right, their passion for the people around them and their same level of stubbornness. If it wasn't know that Harry's parents were not blue-eyed, Ron would have suspected that they might be brothers after all.  
  
"All right there, Harry?" Mark asked awkwardly.  
  
"You mean this?" Harry pointed at his now dried up nose, "Still intact," Harry grinned good naturedly at Mark, but the smile slowly slipped off his face and a pained expression replaced it.  
  
"I feel a bit... Too light..." Harry said and his legs gave way suddenly. He had held onto Ron's arms to stay on his feet.  
  
"Quick, Ron, Ginny, quick! Get him to the dormitory; I think he had lost too much blood in the excitement. We can't bring him to the hospital wing for it's now past curfew time, let him rest in bed and he will feel better tomorrow morning." Hermione instructed and they quickly heaved Harry up and dragged him up the stairs. Mark made to follow but was stopped by Hermione's outstretched hand.  
  
"As a prefect, I think it's best that you receive detention for attacking a fellow student"  
  
"But, I didn't do any real damage to him" Mark whined upon hearing a potential detention and pouted innocently, similar to what Fred and George usually did when they wanted to escape punishment, but Hermione wasn't buying it.  
  
"You broke his nose for heaven's sake," Hermione retorted at a very dangerous voice and Mark's fate was sealed with a week's worth of school service. "Maybe Snape could do with your service," she added as an afterthought.  
  
"NO... NOT THAT GREASY HAIRED GIT OF A TEACHER!" Mark shouted.  
  
"I'm afraid so," Hermione flashed her usually hidden Malfoy worthy smirk and retreat up the boy's staircase, leaving Mark looking like he had been sentenced to death.

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_Those who skipped this section are losing out!! Because here, I'm giving hints (oh, I feel like being JK herself, it's so exciting!!)  
  
Harry will only realise what's important to him only after he lost it, or rather, almost looses it. There will be a deatheater confrontation soon enough. Christmas is the time of love and miracle, but it's also a time when tragedy strikes. One person will not be returning to Hogwarts after the holiday. (I think this hint is so silly.) Harry will be a very angry kid. United Gryffindors in times of crises Aunt Petunia will be friendly, just a bit, to someone but whom?  
  
That's about all!! Review and tell me what you think!!_


	29. Christmas Crisis

Aw.... I'm so touched by your concern..... I'm fine now, I can skip, run, jump with no problem. Everything's fine, there's no big problem with my health already though I still need to visit the doctor occasionally. Thank you for those loving things you all told me, they make my day.  
  
This is a new chap dedicated to all of you; it's an interesting one. One of the better ones, if u ask me. Lots of humour and affections!! I know you would like it, just sit back and enjoy!!

Slowly, with winter approaching, the weather turned chilly but Gryffindor Quidditch practice still continued in snow or storm alike. Harry was training them hard so as to be fully prepared for the second match that would take place right after the Christmas holidays.  
  
Every one of them had almost been frozen solid on their broomstick at least once, in fact Frank almost lost an ear in due to severe frostbite. The frozen ear had turned a nasty shade of purple the night after training in a particular chilly day. If he hadn't been sent to the hospital wing in time, he would have lost that ear. After that incident, Hermione had been requested to be present every training session to apply first aid to the badly frozen players or rescue those blown off their broomstick.  
  
After the second practice, all the team members had reached an agreement that Harry was a bloody tyrant. Every once in a while whenever Harry was a bit too demanding and unreasonable during practice, the whole team, excluding Hermione, who did not want to be involved and Harry, who was their target, would gather together devising ridiculous plans to try to do Harry in, many of which involved at least one of Hagrid's new pets. They would also come up with ways to skip a practice or two when they were in better moods but the most peculiar thing was that Harry would always happen to coincidently walk into them wherever their hiding place was.  
  
They never seemed to be able to carry out any of the plans they had came up with because every time, when Harry was spotted in the distance, they would scurry away before they were caught. To them, being spotted by Harry was almost as bad as being spotted by Filch. In no time, no one could tell who they were more afraid of, Harry or Filch, because whenever they were almost walked in on, they would be forced into doing more harsh training the next time.  
  
Once, after being caught for the sixth time, Jack suggested that they meet in Moaning Myrtle's toilet; thinking that there would be no chance Harry would go into a girls' lavatory but Harry still managed to walk in on them. What was Harry doing in a girls' lavatory? No one dared to ask him. They were too busy finding excuses as to why they were at that location.  
  
Having run out of any feasible excuses and losing all common sense, Frank went to the extent to say that he planned to ask Myrtle out for the coming trip to Hogsmeade. Harry had difficulty not laughing at his reason. Right after Frank exited the lavatory, he rolled on the wet and dirty toilet floor laughing his head off before he calmed down. Of course, earning himself odd looks from Myrtle and she, as always, never gave up the chance to inform him that he was always welcome to share her lavatory if he died laughing. She had taken a liking to Harry ever since the Chamber of Secrets incident. She found it most brave of Harry to go and rescue Ginny; she didn't say it but she was also very disappointed to find him alive after all.  
  
What they never guessed was that Hermione was the spy who was feeding information to Harry and also the fact Harry owned the Marauders' Map that showed everyone's exact location in the castle, which had incidentally completely slipped off Ron and Ginny's mind.  
  
Nevertheless, they never ever managed to conspire with anything to deal with Harry and had to turn up for every practice all the same, much to Harry's satisfaction. Though they might be cursing and swearing at Harry, they were actually very fond of Harry in their hearts, except Guy of course, who didn't care much for Harry anyway.  
  
As sadistically demanding and horrifyingly ruthless Harry seemed, a lot of the Gryffindor team members would agree whole-heartedly, there was still a side of Harry that was kind, cooperative and fun loving. On a Quidditch practice one day, that also happened to be a Hogsmeade date, Harry very kindly made it a free day for all his players as a reward for their 'co- operation' in making the training a success.  
  
The night before, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mark and Harry found themselves crowding around the fireplace for warmth, sinking into their favourite pouffys and armchairs. The holiday spirit had sunk into them and they were all discussing about going to Hogsmeade the next day, debating on how to make Snape wash his hair, chatting aimlessly and laughing out loud.  
  
All of them were chuckling at a very hilarious imitation of Snape by Mark when Guy approached them, which was something very unusual of him for he didn't like to mix around with their clique much. Harry watched him tap Ginny gently on the shoulders, whisper something into her ear and took her away with him to a more remote corner of the common room.  
  
Harry thought Ron would protest against it but he was too busy quarrelling with Hermione over some ridiculous matter to care for Ginny. Deciding to check them out on the behalf of Ron, Harry excused himself to the washroom. Harry took care to walk slowly past the corner where Ginny and guys were talking animatedly.  
  
"... Do you wanna join us? Frank, Lavanya and Heinz would be there too!"  
  
"But I've promised Ron, Harry and Hermione to go with them. It's not nice..."  
  
"All the fifth years will be there too, and everyone hoped for you to be present."  
  
It didn't matter if the whole school was going, it still sounded like a personal invitation to Harry. Looking over Ginny's shoulder to take a more detailed look at Guy, he decided that Guy looked too much like Malfoy with his too perfectly sharp nose, his dark blond hair at the prefect shade, his too sinisterly dark eyes and that all but summed him up as a potential heartbreaker. Deciding against visiting the lavatory, Harry turned sharply in his course and walked back to the fireplace.  
  
"Back from the toilet so fast? Didn't manage to get there in time?" Ron joked and laughed heartily at his feeble attempt of a joke earning looks of irritation from Harry, Hermione and Mark.  
  
"Hey, it's serious, don't joke!" Harry interrupted in a tone that even Ron couldn't mistake as joking.  
  
"Don't tell me you really wet your pants?" Ron asked, shock embedded in his usually jovial face. Harry couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes dramatically.  
  
"No, it's about Ginny!" and that caught their attention, everyone leaned towards Harry expecting a good gossip news, "I happened to overhear Guy asking Ginny out to Hogsmeade tomorrow." This was what Ron had least expected. He had been most happy when Ginny and Michael Corner broke up thinking that finally, Harry could just happen to be the next one to capture Ginny's heart. Now, news of a new suitor really hit Ron hard. He always thought that his best friend was the only one good enough for his precious sister and his sister, who was brought up decently by his mum, who tolerated no nonsense or silly girly temperament, was the only one who could control the temperamental Harry. Emotional baggage, like Cho, would only add to Harry's burden. But Harry knew nothing about Ron's wishful thinking; he always thought that Ron was being an overprotective brother.  
  
"It's not right of you to eavesdrop on other's private conversation, Harry" Hermione spattered in disgust, "and don't you try to do anything stupid, Ronald Weasley". But Ron wasn't paying any attention to anyone other than the two figures in the shadows at the corner of the common room; he was already marching menacingly towards Ginny and Guy. Hermione threw dirty looks at Harry who was watching Ron's retreating back with folding arms, smiling to himself with satisfaction.  
  
Harry watched as Ron gestured wildly to Ginny while Guy walked away to let the two siblings talk in private. Soon enough, Ron returned with Ginny hot on his heels. Both of them sank comfortably into their squashy armchairs and Harry found Ginny staring at him as though expecting him to say something. Harry squirmed uncomfortably under her stare and turned to smile awkwardly in her direction without looking at the person itself. No one said anything except Hermione who was tut-tutting ting loudly at Ron, who seemed very immersed in watching Crookshanks' tail. Mark had lost his interest in the people around him for he was watching the game of chess happening at the next table.  
  
"What exactly did you call me for? Now I'm here and you're keeping quiet." Ginny suddenly said. Harry looked away from his short and dirty nails to see to who she was directing the question at and was surprised to find that she was talking to him.  
  
"Are you talking to me?" he asked nervously.  
  
"No, I was talking to Crookshanks. Of course I was talking to you. So what did you want to tell me?" Ginny shot back irritably.  
  
"I didn't...." Harry tried to say something but was cut off by a series of coughs loud enough to mask Harry's whimper as Ron kicked him a bit too hard on his knees. Ginny pounded Ron's back harshly and after he stopped coughing (he was now wincing in pain instead), she went back to interrogating Harry.  
  
"Sorry, I didn't catch that."  
  
"I said..." Harry was interrupted again when Ron cleared his throat loudly, "I said........... er... er.......... I forgot what I said", he finished off lamely.  
  
"Come on, Harry. You wanted to tell me something, think!!" she insisted. She wasn't the type who you could put off easily.  
  
After racking his brains hard, Harry finally found something sensible to say but not before giving Ron, who's decent enough to look sorry, a dirty look.  
  
"I wanted to ask you if you were staying at Hogwarts this Christmas, because I am."  
  
Shrewd but gullible Ginny seemed satisfied and she began yakking on about how Mrs Weasley wouldn't allow Harry to stay in the castle without friendly faces for company and if Dumbledore wouldn't allow him out of his sight, then she wouldn't allow them to put a foot in the Burrow without him.  
  
Actually Harry hadn't given a thought about where to spend the Christmas holiday. Now that the topic was brought up, he decided that it didn't matter if he wasn't allowed to go to the Burrow, just as long as it wasn't at the Dursleys', anywhere would do but of course it would be better if he was with friends. His thoughts were interrupted by a series of bell chimes that sounded like the school song.  
  
"Hey look, the latest notice!" shouted Dean who was nearest to the Gryffindor notice board. What happened next was the scurrying of many legs as everyone rushed to the notice board where a piece of parchment with fanciful green letter magically appeared on it, on top of the Hogsmeade day notice.  
  
Ron, Harry, Mark, Hermione and Ginny abandoned their conversation and joined the crowd gathered around the notice board, standing on tiptoes trying to see the content of the notice over the sea of heads.  
  
_Due to the reason that most of the professors are involved in personal matters during the festive season, all students are asked to join their family for the Christmas holiday. For everyone's safety, no one was allowed to stay with his or her friends for the holiday. Everyone was to stay with his or her families or relatives. The school had already sent out notices to your parents or guardians about the new arrangement.  
  
Order passed by, _

_Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry Order of Merlin, First Class Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot Chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards  
  
_After Hermione finished reading the notice out loud for them to hear, she turned to look at Harry to see his reaction to the news. Ron and Ginny were also looking at him, waiting for him to response but he continued to stare at the general direction of the notice board looking thunderstruck, mumbling softly you himself.  
  
"I don't believe it. I don't believe they did that to me. Why was this happening? Why? No, there must have been a mistake. It must be a joke."  
  
They had never seen Harry so distressed and upset. Hermione clapped her hand on his shoulder and steered him across the common room and pushed him into his pouffy. They all sat around him, sitting with him in silence when Ron's hoarse voice, broke the silence.  
  
"Perhaps Dumbledore might do an exception for you. You can come with us, mum wouldn't mind, and in fact once she finds out about the news, I bet she'll pester Dumbledore to death with owls and howlers everyday." Said Ron but his voice didn't sound too convincing, as if he wasn't too sure about it himself and Harry noticed that.  
  
"Yeah, I think so too" said Harry but he didn't look like it, "I think I better go write a letter to Uncle Vernon to inform him that I might just turn up for Christmas. I might not have to go after all." he added after seeing Ron's sad look. "Goodnight, and excuse me, I've got a letter to write."  
  
Harry pushed himself out of the squashy pouffy and headed up the stairs, leaving Ron, Ginny, Hermione watching him go up the stairs. Mark had a look of bewilderment in his face not knowing what was happening between them.

Aw...... finally this chap's out. I know I had gone missing in action for quite some time, I was too busy with my havoc life. Anyway I'm back to the big screen. Review for my effort!!

To The Backliner: I just love you, thanks for helping get my HP facts right!! Thanks pal!!

Anyone who wanna express their thanks to him could just leave him a message in my review. I'll ask him to read them.


	30. Memory

_Hi, it's been ages! As I had announced sometime back, for those who had seen my previous author's note, my home pc is totally down and I do not have extra cash to get a new one or to repair it. I'm now surviving on my company pc which I could not use to do personal things, so I therefore had this idea of continuing the fic on paper, then I scan my written work and email it to a fellow reader, Melanie,who helps me type them out into softcopy, using my office equipments. That's how I got to finish this chap. But as Melanie is quite busy with her life, here I advertise for typist who is willing to give me a bit of their time to type the upcoming chapters._

_The benefits: You get to read my fics first hand, a very nice acknowledgement section just for you. What is better than all that! __I sincerelyhope someone is willing to help me out, for now just enjoy the chap and not forgetting to review!_

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Nothing too eventful happened during the Hogsmeade visit the next day. The four of them didn't engage themselves in too many activities there, though they did visit Fred and George at their joke shop which was thriving with business. ("I wonder how much they make in a day! Do you reckon they'll tell me if I ask nicely? Wow, did you see that thick gold necklace on their neck, nearly blinded me, that one!") Ron couldn't stop muttering to himself or close his mouth throughout the 15 minute visit in the shop. As usual, Ron's silly and immature (in Hermione's own words) behavior got onto her nerves and she had to resort to casting a jaw-clenching spell on him, but not before purchasing some pretty interesting joke items herself.

"Not that I want or need them….er…… I….I just patronize their shop on account of our friendship." At this, both Ron and Harry turned to look at her. Since when are they considered friends when they aren't at all polite to each other? The twins were forever trying different ways and methods to taunt the little bookworm, teasing her and making her life a living hell (Harry suspected that it's already one of their everyday motto, 'Taunting Hermione Until She breaks Or Join Us'). The bushy haired prefect on the other hand was always hot on their heels, keeping a close eye on them, making sure that they didn't step a toe out of line. Feeling very self-conscious under their stare, Hermione quickened her steps to get away and accidentally tripped several innocent holiday shoppers in the process.

Much to everyone's pleasure, Harry's mood improved tremendously after the stop at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, or more fondly known as 'Twin Store' , with his pocket full of complimentary joke and trick items.

"They charged me three sickles for this," grumbled Ron, holding out a realistic trick item for them to see, "and they told me that it's family price but they didn't take a single knut from Harry for all these," said Ron, pointing to Harry's bulging coat pocket.

"Sometimes I feel that they like you more than me, their blood brother! Their own blood brother for Merlin's sake," stated Ron, but he didn't look at all displeased, on the contrary, he was grinning all the while.

The four of them strolled along the iced magical village making silly theories on why the devilish twins liked Harry more than Ron and Ginny even suggested that Fred and George liked boys. Giggling like girls, they stepped into the Three Broomsticks. Warm air gushed out to welcome them when they entered the cozy little bar; they settled themselves at the table next to the window and each ordered a mug of foaming hot butterbeer, contented themselves sipping their drinks and watching holiday shoppers from the frosty window. There they spent a quiet but peaceful afternoon.

To everyone's disappointment, including Hermione, who is always against the idea of going against rules, Harry didn't try to talk McGonagall or Dumbledore out of the idea of making him go back to the Dursleys for Christmas.

Two days after the earth shaking announcement, Hedwig returned with a reply from the Dursleys.

_Will pick you from station._

There was no "Dear Harry" or "Harry" to start the letter or "With love, Uncle Vernon" or a simple "Uncle Vernon" at the end. The five words didn't seem to have came from a blood relative, it didn't even express any intimacy, neither was it a bit respectful. The fact that it was scribbled on the back of a bit of yellowing printed paper so obviously torn off from Uncle Vernon's company calendar that was hanging beside the fridge, wasn't cheering Harry up any bit. Clearly, the Dursleys were not at all pleased with the new arrangement. They were very used to the idea of a "freak-free" Christmas for the previous five years and suddenly when they were least prepared, they were told that they were going to have a "magical" Christmas, anyone would freak out, least to say the "All-so-mighty" Dursleys.

Drazing out of the window in his dormitory, what was left of the Harry could remember very vividly the Christmas Eve when he was eight. Aunt Petunia brought Dudley and Harry (She couldn't get anyone to tend to him as her best friend, Veronica, was away to visit her parents and her nutty old neighbor, Mrs. Figg, was expecting guests) to the mall to do some last minute shopping when a jovial looking old man wearing mismatched clothes (a pair of striped pajamas like some Uncle Vernon owned and a filthy looking shirt with a hideous pink polka dot bow) came up to them and wished them a magical Christmas. Instead of returning his greetings, Aunt Petunia screamed, grabbed Dudley with her shopping bag laden, bony arms and ran, in three inch heels, to the nearest taxi stand and Harry trying, with great difficulty, to catch up with her, then took a taxi straight home without the turkey.

Harry had paid dearly for what was clearly not his fault. He was sent to his cupboard that night, after Aunt Petunia told Uncle Vernon about the incident when they got home. Harry could remember vividly, as though it had happened yesterday, how his eight year old self, thin and vulnerable, was locked up in the dark and cold, spider-filled cupboard on Christmas Eve. Everyone was celebrating the day, tucking into delicious food; huge turkey, cakes and pies of all kinds, pudding of all colour, flavour, and shape setting on the fridge, waiting piping hot patiently for them to finish their meal, but Harry was hungry and miserably cold, his stomach growling with whatever was left from lunch, shivering with the cold, his teeth chattering noisily. From the little gap under the door, he could hear, very clearly, the Dursleys merry and joyous voices, Dudley singing out-of-tune Christmas carols that he'd learned in school in his high-pitched, squeak-like voice. Harry wept that night, something he hadn't done since he was six, the time Uncle Vernon had whipped him with the broom for not greeting him during breakfast. He wept and sang the Christmas carols under his breath the whole night in the cramped and miserable cupboard under the staircase. He imagined himself sitting on his father's lap unwrapping heaps of presents. He looked like him, with dark hair and green eyes. His father was tall and strong, nothing like short, fat Uncle Vernon. His mother was beaming at the pair, watching his excited face and occasionally giving him a loving pat on the head. Not having seen his mother before, he didn't know how to picture her features so Harry decided that she must have looked like her sister, Aunt Petunia, with blond hair and brown eyes, except she was petite and curvy and more beautiful than Aunt Petunia. She was always smiling at Harry. She was nice to him. The three of them were sitting on the rug in front of the fireplace, their home was comfortable and they loved each other dearly.

"Harry! Harry!" came a voice from far away and , as if being pulled away from the window where the scene was taking place, he was pulled farther and farther away from his father and mother and his eight year old self. Harry threw out his arms in surprise.

"Ouch! What's that for?" Harry opened his eyes and was momentarily blinded by the brightness of the room. When he could see properly, he saw Ron's face right in front of him. Harry's first instinct was to inch his head away from him as the sight of Ron with lots of sleep in his eyes was horrifying and in addition, Ron's breath smelled as if he'd swallowed a bag of dung bombs whole.

Harry looked at Ron with a hideous expression, and when he saw that Ron was about to open his mouth, took a deep breath and held it. "Hey Harry, wake up!" exclaimed Ron while Harry slowly let out his breath, "We need to catch the train at 12. Quickly wash up, pack whatever you hadn't packed, and see you downstairs in 15 minutes, all right?" Harry nodded his head vigorously and the minute Ron walked away, he quickly sucked in the fresh air to replenish the air in his lungs.

"Oh, today's the day, isn't it? Aren't we excited to go back after so many years," thought Harry sarcastically. He quickly washed up, magicked all his belongings into his only trunk and hopped onto it to be able to close it. With the mood of someone walking to the gallows, Harry pulled his trunk, pieces of cloak sticking out from all sides, along and descended the stairs towards his doom.

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_So what do you think of this chap? Review & let me know how you think. Pardon me if there's lots of grammar mistakes for I couldn't wait for my beta reader to finish beat reading it before posting it. I'm just too excited to post this chap, but no worries, I'll repost the edited version once The-Back-Liner is done. I promise._


	31. Owl, Pigeon or Just Bloody Bird

_After what seemed like ages, here's the latest chap! Do I need to claim that I don't own HP? Ok, I don't. Just enjoy this..._

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"Time flies when one's enjoying themselves."

This verse was a very popular slogan by Gilderoy Lockhart; that name rings a bell or two? Yes, he's the one of the many uncountable ex Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher Hogwarts ever had in his history, since the four founders' time. Sharing the same fate as most of the ex Defense professors (only a handful ever managed to make it to retirement without a limb or two), after a particular nasty experience with the dark arts, he's never the same again.

The once handsome and charming five times winner of the Most Charming Smile Award of the Witch's Weekly, was now a complete wreck. With the intelligence of a three-year old toddler, he's a mortal danger to himself and people. As we were mentioning him, he's at some part of St. Mungos, hiding away from the hospital matron because he didn't want to eat the cauliflower in his stew because he thought it looked like a little tree and trees aren't for eating, not to mention it tastes awful.

Lockhart's well-being wasn't a concern on a particular Mr. Potter's mind at the moment, in fact, if anyone were to quote Lockhart's world famous quote in front of him, he's sure to curse that person into nothing, because he's feeling the exact opposite.

Harry had his face pressed against the train's window watching mountains, hills, meadows and grasslands pass him by, and the dark blurry outline of King's Cross getting larger and clearer by the minute. He sure wasn't enjoying himself but time still flies and all too soon, he found the scenery in front of him no longer moving which indicates that it had reached it's destination.

Ron hopped off the train with graceful ease, despite his gigantic size and pulled Harry along, behind him towards the barrier where he supposed Mrs Weasley was waiting patiently for them, chatting up with a parent or two, but Harry wasn't appreciative. He was hoping to continue lingering around the station until two weeks' up and it's time to go back to Hogwarts. Ron was too thrilled to be going back home, like the rest of the student body, except Harry, to notice the irritated look on his long pulling face.

Harry slowed down on his tracks as Ron almost ran up to his mother, and took care to take as long as possible to get to the magical barrier; occasionally stopping to retrieve his knuts that happened to "fall out' of his moneybag.

The station quickly emptied of students and after what seemed like almost an hour, Harry finally found himself looking straight at the magical barrier that separates the wizarding world from the muggle one. He stood there for quite some time debating whether to cross it or not when he felt an impatient push on his back and he had already reached the muggle side.

"Nasty bugger, mischief up his sleeves. Lucky Old Barney's bright enough to see through him", thought the aging station captain as he whistled his way for tea after gotten rid of the last kid in the station.

"Hello, my dear, had a great term at school?" came a high-pitched shriek and Harry was instantly enveloped in a warm hug which brightened his mood very much. Mrs Weasley quickly let go of Harry, turned him around a number of times, making him a bit dizzy, checking for signs of weight loss, poor health, and bad personal hygiene. Not able to hide fault in Harry, she let go of her grasp on him and wave him off towards another direction. Harry turned and became aware of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, who were standing almost a mile away from them, with identical looks of distaste on their face.

Harry turned to walk to the pair, he was startled when Mrs Weasley pulled him back from the scruff of his tee shirt, held him firmly at the shoulders and tiptoed to plant a motherly kiss on his cheek, as if marking him as one from her nest. She then messed up his hair fondly (not that it'll make any difference on his thick messy head of black hair that never lie flat on his head) before pushing him in the direction of the Dursley who were a bit taken aback to witness the "marking ceremony" but were starting to walk off.

Harry returned a halfhearted wave to bade goodbye to the many Weasleys and Hermione before walking off himself. He had great difficulty catching up with the Dursleys when he had got a trunk in one of his hands, Hedwig in her cage under his another arm (it's not like she weigh a feather, she weighs like a ton. Harry made a mental note not to let her out to hunt for supper anymore) and a broomstick balancing under his underarms. He was aware of many pairs of questioning eyes following him and he was very certain Uncle Vernon could sense them too.

Being a ahy bloke who can never get used to staring, Harry quickly lowered his head and almost raced out of the arrival hall when his forehead made contact with something soft, maybe a little bouncy, making him stop in his track. Looking up, he found himself staring at a vast middle that unfortunately belongs to Uncle Vernon.

"So is this broom the prop the school had given you to play the road sweeper in the play?" Uncle Vernon asked in his booming voice, his small eyes darting around nervously and begun to stride towards the exit with Harry following closely.

" Huh?" was the reply he got. Harry stared at his broad back in puzzlement and received a meaningful look, that Harry didn't quite know what it meant.

"Er… you mean that play? Yeah… yeah… it's the one, taken from Mr. Flinch's collection of broomsticks" replied Harry with fast response.

"Did you say something about the dirty, nasty and ungrateful roadsweeper that you are playing owning a pigeon?" asked Uncle Vernon, with more accusing tone than questioning. Harry spotted his twiddling fingers behind his back as if trying to convey some Morse code message to him. There was a short silence as Harry was trying to figure out hidden meanings for the second time, this time the hidden meaning behind twiddling fingers.

Getting no intelligent response back, Uncle Vernon narrowed his bushy brows & frowned back at him.

"Yeah… yeah…, I think I did mention this in my last owl… I mean letter about the owl. In fact they, I mean the school, had managed to get hold of a live owl. I… I mean because pigeons are often found only in pet shops and you know, the school had tight budgets… er… because they have budgets, so they caught an owl instead. From the Forbidden Forest… oops… I mean that forest's forbidden to all students" finished Harry lamely. He knew that he's gibbering, and he always did that when he's nervous, especially under the stares of many snooping eyes. He then shoved the cage towards Uncle Vernon, to emphasize on his point, almost colliding it into his buttocks; Hedwig's making one hell of a racket for being introduced to a fat arse.

"Doesn't make too much of a difference, do they? Bloody birds they are!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed and the lady nearest to them covered her kid's ears.

Slightly abashed, Uncle Vernon quickened his steps and moved towards the family car packing outside the station where Aunt Petunia and Dudley were sitting in the warm comfort of the car. Uncle Vernon quickly went into the car to seek warmth, leaving Harry out in the cold, heaving his belongings into the boot; his broomstick simply just can't fit without being broken into halves.

After much struggling, he managed to arrange the stuffs to fit properly and proceeded to climb into the back seat, beside the larger than when last seen Dudley, when he was pushed roughly, head logged into the car and landed most clumsily onto Dudley's lap.

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_Please review! I miss your review! Really miss you guys after being MIA for quite some time. A lot of thinga happened during this period of time, I went into the hospital again, my PC died & I bought a new one just recently, I enrolled in a Uni. That's a lot! So please do pardon me!_


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